My Monster
by Autumn Sacrifice
Summary: Honda Tohru finds an injured cat and kindly takes him in. Soon though, she realizes that nothing about him is normal, and he turning into a teenage boy initiates a domino effect. While forgotten memories flood their minds, a curse is reveled. AU.
1. Prologue

**My Monster**

Summary: _Honda Tohru finds an injured cat and kindly takes him in. Soon though, she realizes that nothing about him is normal, and he turning into a teenage boy initiates a domino effect. While forgotten memories flood their minds, a curse is reveled. AU._

Disclaimer: I don't own Furuba.

Prologue

He felt his chest tighten with fear as their footsteps approached, gaining speed with each clap of thunder. He was already feeling weaker and time felt as if it was beginning to slow all around him.

As the light from the lanterns fell onto him his breathing completely stopped, as if the shallowest of breaths could give away his location. It was dead silence as the light lingered there, and sweat formed at his brow despite the cold, pouring rain.

Just when the light was leaving the spot, the sun began to rise against him; being in the spot where the first rays of light caught him. He heard one of them shout, "Look, he's over there!" and another yelled "Kill him!! Kill him now before he gets away!" and that's when all of the speed caught up to him again.

There was a rock thrown at him, barely missing his head as his back went flat against the wall of the house. He jumped onto a low branch of a tree as he took off. The tree tops provided little protection and stabbed at his bare torso as he ran, pulling at his tattered pants and the bracelet on his wrist. Finally, it was jerked from him, and the branch dropped it to the ground.

He lunged after it.

He landed on the ground, slowly getting on his knees and finding the bracelet on the ground five feet in front of him. He crawled toward it in a daze as his vision began to blur, his body weakening as it always did before his gruesome transformation. Just as he was about to pick it up, a foot came crashing down, right on top of his hand. The person bent down and picked the bracelet up, smirking and chuckling as the boy lie on the ground, panting from lack of breath and control.

"You idiot," the soft voice came, mocking him as he lay not being able to do anything about it. "You honestly thought that you could get away. And I never even thought that you would want to, seeing as how I've given you so much already." The person laughed as they twirled the bracelet around their fingers, the early morning rain and dark hair hiding their face, though the boy still knew who it was. He could never mistake such malice as anyone else's.

He braced himself as he jolted up, grabbing the bracelet from their hand and running off, knowing that he could outrun them even in this condition. He ran harder than before, a half-baked plan in his head. He felt his body changing, but he didn't do anything to stop it.

Not this time.

He just kept running, accepting this form to give him strength even if it were to kill him. He turned a corner and stopped abruptly in front of a stream, throwing the bracelet into it as he heard them coming for him once more. He smirked, running off to where he knew they wouldn't find him.

He ran for hours it seemed, though it was only a short time. Only half-way through the run did he finally stop hearing their footfalls. And when he reached the area, in complete safety in the rain, he let out a distorted scream of pain, not afraid for them to hear. He was transforming and now nothing could stop it.

All went black, and he fell asleep.

Hello again! O: Nope, I'm not dead yet, heehee! This is my latest creation: A Fruits Basket fan fiction AU featuring the wonderful couple of Kyou and Tohru! Please read and review, okay? :D I'm just about to upload chapter one, and if I get enough reviews, I'll upload chapter two later today or tomorrow. Ja, mata ne!


	2. Arrival and Problems

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Furuba

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 1:

Arrival and Problems

It was a beautiful day, great for doing just about anything outdoors. Honda Tohru watched the scenery roll by through the opened window of the rented minivan. Tohru's aqua eyes shimmered as she saw the piers through the tree branches, her light brown hair flowing through the wind out of the opened window. She was on her way to the lake for a small vacation with herself, her mother, and two friends, Saki and Arisa, also known as Hana and Uo.

"We're here!" her mothers' voice rang through the car, obvious excitement in it. Tohru's mother had always been a free spirit, and she was always looking for danger. That's what she loved about her mother though; she knew how to have fun, and lots of it. She was always laughing and smiling, her short red hair clinging to her pale face.

"That's good," Hana commented, setting her book in her lap. Her purple eyes scanned the area around them, a slight smile on her lips. "It's very pretty here." She said, taking in the beautiful lake and the setting sun. The area wasn't very large, but it was like their secret hideout, and this time, Hana and Uo were there too! Tohru was ready to burst with excitement as she pushed the door open and threw herself into the grass, happily sighing.

"I love it here!"

"It is pretty cool," Uo stepped out of the van behind Hana, her blonde hair looking rather gold in the sunlight, which seemed to make her blue eyes look slightly green. She turned back to the van, helping Tohru's mother unpack the things. "Yo, we could use some help," she commented, pulling her two bags down.

"Right." the two girls chorused, rushing to the van.

The four women scrambled into the house, turning on lights and claiming rooms as they parted. As usual, Kyooko went to the very back of the house, where the largest room was. It was decorated with reds and blacks, the only black really being a large rug in the middle of the floor, the metal of the bed, dressers and such, and the curtains. The floor was hardwood, the walls a blood red. The comforter on the bed was black with red butterflies on it.

Tohru went to her usual room, a sunny yellow with a pale yellow bed, and white curtains. She had no rug on the floor, and her dressers her rather plain, being a plaid pattern in yellow. Tohru never asked for much, because she never wanted much. Tohru loved every single thing about her life, and never thought about getting anything more, because she thought it was good enough.

Uo didn't really know where to go, so she chose the closest room to the door, the one being decorated in natural colors. It had a full sized bed covered in greens and browns, matching the curtains on the walls. She didn't have any dressers, but rather a closet that had a forest scenery painting onto it. She smiled, stepping onto a soft green carpet in the middle of the room. She didn't know why, but she liked this room. Go figure.

Hana was walking slowly through the house, stopping outside of each door, only to move to the next. She didn't know that only two rooms remained, but somehow found herself walking into a free one, filled with purple, electric blue, and black. The floors were not hardwood in here, instead, a purple color. The curtains were plain electric blue, and the bed was black, metal. It was covered with vertical stripes of bright blues, dark purples, black, and a few times, white. She set her bags down and began unpacking with an unemotional face. When done, she walked herself back to the living room with a book in hand, waiting for the other girls.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kyooko clapped her hands in agreement. "So, pizza tonight, and we go to the store tomorrow?" After gaining nods from the girls, she brought out a pen and paper. "What toppings?"

Hana looked up from her book, then back down. "Mushroom,"

"Pepperoni," Uo said, raising a finger.

Tohru grinned, waving her hands in the air. "Anything's fine with me! What about both?"

"Whatever," The three women commented, each turning to their own thing. Hana continued reading, Kyooko began ordering the pizza, and Uo went back to watching the television while Tohru sort of just stared into space.

The pizza arrived fairly quickly, and as the girls began eating, they discussed tomorrow's plans.

"I'd like to go out on the lake." Hana said, taking a small bite out of her pizza slice.

"I second that! But 'ya know what; I think that we should grill out or something!" Uo balled her fist up, eyes shimmering. "We should get hotdogs and hamburgers!"

"That sounds like a good idea," Kyooko commented, looking over at Tohru. "but we'll have to go shopping for food first. We also have to unpack, and I'm too tired tonight."

"Well that's easily solved; we can do it first thing in the morning. Then we'll go shopping." Uo stated, smiling at her friends.

Tohru shifted in her spot. "Um, if you all don't mind, I'd like to stay here while the shopping is done. I want to take a walk into the forest." She looked down guiltily, her food untouched.

"No problem, kid. Besides, this trip is for us to relax, and you deserve it most!" Her mother ruffled her hair, grinning. "You just got done taking care of my cold, and now that testing is over, you need some fun time."

"Thanks, mom!" She grinned, leaning onto her mothers shoulder. Sure, the gesture was normal enough, not wonderfully kind, but that was Tohru for you. She appreciated everything.

Uo smiled evilly as she finished off the last of her pizza. "Why don't you unpack our bags for us tomorrow, Tohru? That way we can get done with shopping earlier."

Tohru didn't notice the comment as a joke, so she smiled brightly, but no one bothered to tell her it was a joke either. She was fine with unpacking, right?

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru awoke to a strangely quiet house, blinking the tiredness out of her eyes. "Mmm, I guess they left already." she said to no particular person, her words distorted by a yawn. Lifting herself out of bed, Tohru unpacked her suitcase, a constant smile on her face as she neatly re-folded everything and placed them in her drawers. She then remembered her promise to everyone else, and ran to their rooms to unpack for them and was careful to leave out things such as toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and all of the other womanly needs items on the beds.

After that task was done, Tohru dressed and went into the kitchen for breakfast. She opened the cabinets, only to find them bare, not even a layer of dust. Her face fell as her stomach growled, shutting the doors and walking outside. "I guess breakfast is off for the day," she told herself, mindlessly walking into the forest that was nearby the house. She didn't recognize the storm clouds overhead.

Tohru walked through the forest, following the path that she took each time she came here. She smiled, looking up, trying to find the sky behind the leaves, which of course she couldn't find. She didn't know why she enjoyed this place so much, or why she had to go on a walk through the forest each time she came, or why she felt that tingle of impending danger run through her spine.

She clumsily stepped over roots and dodged under branches as she made her way through the path. To another person, it would have been easy to get through without so much as a scratch, but this was Tohru. She was clumsy and couldn't walk through a bear hallway without tripping over some speck of dust or, more often than not, her own two feet. Her clothes were dirty and there were a few tears on them, but that was no surprise. In fact, this time she was smart enough to think ahead and wear an old shirt and jeans. Every other time she had worn skirts and cute little blouses and even sometimes heels, but she had learned from that.

A dull roar broke through the serenity of her earthy sanctum. It was so low, and so, almost calming, that Tohru wouldn't have heard it had it not been for the near-silence of the woods. The thunder made her stop in her tracks, and she looked to the sky only to find tree branches blocking her view. She looked forward, knowing that her clearing wasn't too far away from this point, so she ran forward so that she could take a look at the sky. She was hoping that this storm would just pass over.

She was almost out of breath while she broke through a rather intense area of trees, halting at the edge of the clearing. She looked around, making sure that no one was around just in case, and walked up to a large and flat rock right in the middle of it. The boulder was so perfectly placed there, that she often pictured someone moving it to this spot for meditation or something of the sorts, seeing how a person could easily sit on it, right in the middle of that perfect circle, and lose time just staring into the sky. She hoisted herself onto the two foot rock with little effort, staring into the sky.

Clouds passed by quickly, and she soon found herself dizzy staring into the grayness of it all. She sat down and sighed, knowing that the storm wouldn't just pass over; it seemed that it had even been raining on and off already. She stepped down and began walking away from the rock as a stench entered her nose, causing her to cover it and shut her eyes briefly. It made her want to vomit. She heard an unearthly growl from somewhere but was paralyzed somehow, standing there with shut eyes. She heard feet pounding the ground in a hasty run, quicker than maybe four others chasing after it.

There was another growl, and then a falling tree. She spun around to see a tree falling right for her, but couldn't move. A force hit her straight on as rain began to fall, and there was a flash of lightning and bang of thunder that seemed to coexist with the fall of the tree. When she opened her eyes, a cat was lying on her stomach, its' breath coming out in quick hauls. She smelled the blood on the animal, and spotted it streaming out of quite a few places. The stench still lingered slightly and she still heard footsteps, but it seemed that the creature was gone now, for no roars were heard.

"Over here! I think he came over here!" A voice yelled, the footfalls pausing before quickening once more. Tohru, barely thinking, pulled the cat into her shirt and ran from the clearing.

Drops of rain fell through the leaves as tears welled in her eyes. She was truly afraid for her life at the moment. She felt the cats wet fur against her bear stomach as she continued running, her panting increasing as she tripped more than once. She still heard the footfalls behind her as she rounded a random corner, barely dunking under a low branch in her way. They were getting quieter now, but she was still worried. Now, she didn't know where she was going, and the people behind her didn't seem to tire in the least.

The cat inside her shirt meowed quietly, as if to remind her that two lives were at stake here. She never even thought that she might not be in any danger at all. She began to slow as the running quieted still, and eventually came to a stop. She heaved as she held the cat closer to her still, her loose hair, soaked from the rain, being held back by one hand. After her empty stomach emptied more, she stepped to the side and fell to the ground, pulling the cat out of her shirt as the rain continued to fall.

She stroked its' damp hair, running her fingers across a rather large gash on the back. The cat meowed lowly from the obvious pain placed there. There was another, smaller cut on the creatures' front left paw, and yet another one right on the middle of it's' head. She flipped the poor thing onto its' back, and found another cut on its' stomach.

"Ah... what could have happened to you?" She asked quietly, pulling the cat back under her shirt. Only just then did she notice that blood was beginning to spill through the material, and this worried her even more. How much blood did this cat lose? Without hesitation, she ran. She didn't know where, but she did. If she could find her path, then Tohru could get home. She _had_ to get home.

And later - she couldn't tell you how much later - she grinned as she found her house through the pouring rain and dripping wet trees. She held the cat closer still, feeling him not to be safe yet, and ran onto the small deck, pushing the unlocked door open and standing, dripping wet, in the doorway. She shivered from the chill of the unheated house as water dripped loudly to the hardwood floor. She finally broke from her trance and pulled the cat from under her shirt, stroking its' drying head as she thought once again _'I wonder what happened to it...'_ She smiled rather sadly, shivering again from the rain that still hit her back. The girl shut the door closed with her foot, then slowly walked to her room with the cat curled up into her crossed arms.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru shot out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her and dropping loudly to the floor in front of it right before a loud _THUMP_ sounded on the other side. She had just made three discoveries concerning the injured cat:

1. It wasn't de-clawed

2. It was a boy

3. He had a bad temper.

She almost cried as she held the sleeve of a fresh shirt in front of her face, bearing three large scratch marks on the forearm. She swallowed hard as she stood on feeble legs and turned to the door, barely opening it enough to pop her head in. "Anoo... Neko-san?" she called, widely opening the door now. She stopped right inside of the door as the cat jolted from a far corner of the room to underneath the bed. She smiled despite herself, knowing that the poor thing was probably scared to death. She got down on all fours and peeked under the bed, only to jump back from the sight: two red eyes glaring at her. She'd never seen a creature with red eyes before.

Tohru carefully reached her hand underneath the bed, stroking the cat under its chin. "It's okay, I won't hurt you." She smiled, raising her hand to the cats' cheek as he purred and pressed his head further into her palm. She thought now was a good time to pull him out, so she did so, stretching both arms forward to grab him, and gently pull him toward her. His claws pricked her fingers the closer he got, but she didn't let go and in no time the cat was sitting in her lap, purring, but not very happily. She wondered to herself if that was possible.

Ignoring the random thought, Tohru gently rubbed his ears, only to draw his attention away from her other hand as she carefully washed his fur, getting rid of blood and dirt so she could she the damage. He seemed not to mind, for when she stopped petting his ears to get a stubborn clump of dirt, he didn't move. She smiled and continued grooming the cat until he looked reasonable, and set him in front of her.

"Eh... Neko-san? Could you stay here for just a minute? I have to get bandages for those wounds." She slowly stood up and felt a cramp in her legs, but ignored it as she looked him over once more, being sure that she wouldn't have to run and get extra bandages. She smiled, popping up and running to the door, shutting it behind her and making her way toward the bathroom where first aid supplies were held.

'_Such a cute cat...'_ she thought, rummaging through a closet for bandages and such. _'He seems like a good cat... but I don't think mom would think so. She'd probably think of him as too dangerous... But he's adorable! His fur is so soft... and the orange color reminds me of mom in a way!'_ She thought back to the red eyes that glared at her from underneath the bed as she made her way back to the room. _'His eyes are scary though.'_

She opened the door lost in her thoughts, and nearly stepped on the waiting cat as she walked in. "Ah! Sorry, Neko-san!" she shouted as she barely leaped over him. It seemed as if he glared at her over his shoulder as she sat there, on her knees. She smiled and reached over him, closing the door. "Anoo... I'm going to have to bandage you... okay?" The cat just sat there, now facing her as she inched her way closer to him. For some reason, this cat made her nervous and jumpy, as if he were about to jump up and attack her... which might be what he was planning. She shook her head free of the thought, and starting bandaging him, starting at one of the worst wounds; on his head.

After she finished bandaging the cat up, she had to laugh at the job she'd done. It wasn't that the bandages were too lose or too tight, but he looked adorable like that! He had bandages on his head, covering one of his ears and almost the entire top of his head, his whole front left paw covered in a bandage, leaving him somewhat off-balanced. To top it off, there were two more wounds; one on his back and another on his stomach, which Tohru had found to be the same, large wound all together. So, doing what she must, much of the remaining fur on the cat was covered with gauze. She smiled, feeling the discomfort from the cat, and pulled him into her arms. He was truly adorable.

"It's okay, Neko-san, I'll heal you up and you can return to your normal life." She gently stroked him between his shoulder blades, gaining purrs from the feline. She was already growing attached to it. There was a knock at the door and she jumped, dropping the cat on the floor and holding her racing heart. The person knocked again and she ran to the door, knowing it would be her mother and friends. She smiled as she opened it, and the cat slowly walked out of the room behind her.

"Hi, mom, Uo, Hana! Would you like me to help with the groceries? I have some news for you."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Bwahahaha. Enjoy the cliffhanger... I know I did. Please review!


	3. Scary Movies

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 2:

Scary Movies

Tohru was sitting silently, petting the sleeping cat as she stared eye-to-eye with her mother. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Kyouko sighed and reached for the cat. She sat him in her lap but he wouldn't have it, screeching loudly and jumping from her lap to Tohru's, falling asleep almost instantly. The four sat stunned, silently watching him as if waiting for him to jump through flaming hoops or turn himself inside out, but he did nothing. After another eternity, Kyouko broke the silence.

"Tohru, we can't keep a cat. This thing could have fleas, disease, anything!"

The girl began stroking his head again as she stared her mother in the eyes, speaking with confidence for once. "When I washed and bandaged him, there were no signs of illness or anything like that." Kyouko couldn't doubt her word, because Tohru had a dream to be a vet one day, and spent much time reading about animals and such. She knew more about them than her mother. "Plus, I'm not asking to keep him. In fact, I don't even think that he likes me very much. I just want to heal him before finding his owner."

"And what if he doesn't _have_ and owner, Tohru? You won't give him up that easily." she stated, crossing her arms. Hana broke in at the moment, raising a finger as she spoke.

"I believe that Tohru will be fine. This cat seems to be a fast healer; he's already awoken from a head injury." They merely stared at her as the cat meowed lowly.

"He seems to like you well enough, Tohru." added Uo. "He won't let anyone else near him." Tohru smiled, scratching his ears, though she said nothing.

"Anyway," Kyouko butt in. "We'll only be here for a week so if he doesn't seem well by then, we're still not taking him home with us. Got it?"

Tohru smiled brightly and stood up with the cat in her arms, giving her mother an awkward hug. "Thanks mom," And with that, she left the room.

As soon as she shut the door behind her, the cat jumped out of her arms and seemed to glare at her over his shoulder. She sighed, falling into a sitting position, deep in thought. "Um... Neko-san, was that an act?" The cat turned completely away from her and sat down, licking his paw. "You don't like me," she stated, reaching out to pet him. He flinched and lowered his head away from her hand. She retracted it. "You're very smart, Neko-san, but I'd like it if you could be my friend." He merely walked away with that statement.

She sighed and lay down to take a nap.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru awoke to a consistent patting on her forehead. As consciousness was regained, the patting became quicker and a mixture of meows and voices were heard beyond the barrier of sleep. She yawned, pushing the nuisance from her head and off of the bed, sitting up lazily with closed eyes.

"Tohru," her mothers' voice came, followed by four quick knocks. "You awake?"

The girls' eyes bolted open and she ran to the door, flinging it open. She stared at her mother and friends in a daze, and before her ramble began, Kyouko smiled.

"You were sleeping weren't you?" Tohru could only nod with her mouth slightly agape. The cat leisurely strolled past the girls and, mindlessly, they all followed. The cat jumped onto the counter and meowed.

"We're hungry, Tohru." whined Uo, grabbing her stomach dramatically. The girl began to panic, causing Uo to laugh and Kyouko to walk off, holding her forehead in her hand. Saki decided to intervene at this point, getting into a drawer and pulling out a giant wooden spoon.

"Don't worry Tohru; I can cook if you don't want to." she said, staring dully at the two girls.

A sudden chill passed through the room and Uo laughed nervously. "Heh... well, why don't we just let Tohru do it...?" She reached for the wooden spoon in Hana's hand and tugged at it, but the girl wouldn't let go. Instead, she kept her attention on Tohru.

"Tohru, do you want to cook?" she asked, her head turned from a struggling Arisa, who was now resorting to prying the spoon from Hana's hand with both of hers. Tohru nodded vigorously and grinned.

"Of course I do! I'd be more than happy to cook for the three of you!" Arisa sighed of relief and smiled, letting go of the spoon that Saki just wasn't going to give up. Saki then faced Arisa directly, and stared at her for a moment before shifting her eyes to the spoon.

"Oh, am I still holding this?" She let go of the spoon and let it drop to the ground, then turned her eyes back to Arisa. "Why do you look so exhausted?" Arisa's eyebrow twitched and she stood straight, glaring and pointing a finger at Hana.

"You know very well why!" She picked up the spoon and slammed it onto the counter. "You are not to even _think_ about cooking _anything_ ever again!" With that, she pushed the emotionless Hana out of the room, and another second later poked her head back in, grinning at Tohru. "Tohru," she called, smiling. The dazed girl tilted her head to the side in response. "Could you cook something with fish tonight? Anything fish! Your mom and I are going to grill out tomorrow."

Tohru smiled, picking up a skillet and turning to the fridge. "Sure! I'm sure Neko-san will like it too!" Arisa looked around, finding the cat sitting at Tohru's feet, and smiled before leaving the room.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The next three days passed similarly, with the cats' fast healing and the usual fun and jokes between the four girls. It was now the fourth day, and Arisa and Hana needed to call their parents and check in to see how things were.

Tohru picked up the last of the dinner plates as Arisa came back into the room, looking pissed. No sooner than she sat down, Saki went into the same room that Arisa came out of. It was then that Tohru re-entered, carrying a tray of tea in her hands and frowning when she saw the look on Uo's face. "What's wrong, Uo-san?" she asked, offering her a cup of tea. Kyouko simply sat watching them, and accepted a cup when offered to her.

"My parents are fighting again." she sighed, taking a sip, putting the cup on the table. She sat back on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm so sorry!" Tohru shouted, nearly dropping her cup of tea as she leaned forward. She kept her position with big eyes though, and now her words were coming too fast for them to understand. What they did catch though was something along the lines of "We never should have taken you away from home!" At this, her mother stood up and hugged the girl, trying to soothe her.

"Tohru, it's not your fault. Don't worry about it; Uo-chan can still stay after all." Arisa stood up and took the tea from the panicking girl. She sat it onto the table and turned to face the mother and daughter with crossed arms.

"Yeah, if I would've known you'd react like that, I wouldn't have even told you in the first place... It just makes me that that they're fighting." She turned away, her smile lost as she muttered "I wonder what'll happen without me being the referee..."

Before Tohru could break into another spur of panics, Saki walked in and silently sat down, catching everyone's attention.

"Everything is fine at home," she lightly explained, trying to coax the cat who wasn't about to move by pretending to hold something in her shaking hand. Tohru, forgetting Uo's problem, smiled and broke from her mothers' arms.

"That's wonderful, Hana-san! I'm glad they're all doing well."

"What happened while I was gone?" Saki asked, completely ignoring Tohru's congratulations. She didn't seem to notice. Arisa was about to speak before Kyouko butt in.

"Oh, nothing!"

"Well that's good... I suppose." Tohru picked up the cat and sat on the couch with him in her lap. He began purring as she stroked his neck; just below the injury on his head. She smiled as she looked up at the three girls, pointing to the television.

"Why don't we watch a movie?"

"Oh, that's a great idea! I even bought popcorn at the store!" Kyouko replied, running into the kitchen to make it. "You guys pick the movie," she called behind her back, leaving an evilly grinning Uo behind. She turned to Saki and pointed to the movie case.

"What about a horror movie, Saki?" she asked, and she knew the answer.

"That sounds delightful," she commented, standing to pick a movie. Uo sat in her spot and rested her legs on the coffee table in front of her, and casually looked to Tohru, who was smiling to no one in particular.

"Have you already seen all of these, Tohru?" she asked.

"Hm...? Oh, uh... no!" She smiled again, looking over to Hana, who was just standing before the cases. "But it'll be a surprise now!" The microwave beeped, causing her to jump while Uo laughed at her expense.

"Calm down, Tohru. You'll be fine."

"Oh, I'm not worried!" She laughed, looking toward the kitchen. "That was just a sudden noise."

"Okay, okay. Just don't scream _too_ much while we're watching the movie." Tohru laughed just as Kyouko walked in with two bowls of popcorn.

"So, what are we watching?" she asked cheerfully, sitting down next to Tohru.

Hana had put the movie in and was now walking back, her face emotionless. "Blood Suckers," she said, taking a bowl from Kyouko and stuffing her mouth.

Tohru's eyes went wide and she was already clinging to the cat in her arms with wide eyes. "It's okay Neko-san; it's probably not that scary." she whispered to it, but he didn't seem too scared; the only look in his eyes were annoyance. The three girls stared at her for a bit, but she didn't notice.

Then, the video started and a shrill scream filled the room.

"Tohru!" shouted Uo, standing up and spilling half of the bowl-full of popcorn on the floor. She looked over to the girl with glassy eyes and sighed, sitting back down and picking popcorn off of the couch and floor, popping it into her mouth as she went.

Kyouko, feeling sympathy for the girl, scooped her into her arms. Tohru only squeezed the cat tighter, and Kyouko feared his eyes would completely fall out of his head the way they were bulging out. She sighed and rubbed Tohru's arm. "You need to loosen your grip or you'll kill him." she said, only to gain a yelp from the girl.

"Ah! I'm sorry!!" she yelled, completely releasing him from her arms. He just sat there for a moment before leaping from the couch, sitting in front of the television as it showed a group of bats attacking a screaming woman. The volume wasn't even that loud. At this point, Uo gave up on cleaning up the popcorn and sat back down. The cat walked over to her and began eating remains of the popcorn on the floor as Uo spoke.

"Wow, Tohru. Two seconds into the movie and you're to the point of tears." She pointed behind her - to Hana - with her thumb. "Look at Hana over there, just watching without being affected at all." They all turned to the girl as she continued staring mindlessly at the television.

"This isn't realistic in the least." she said, never averting her eyes from the screen. The three girls sighed at how characteristic this was, and turned back to the movie. This time, Tohru was holding the cat close, and her mom holding her.

The movie seemed to drag on forever for Tohru, but when it was finally over, Tohru let the cat down and stood up, stretching her arms above her head.

"That was terrible... when was this movie made anyway, the 60's or something?" Arisa said, standing to go to her room for the night. Kyouko laughed at that, picking up the bowels and taking them to the kitchen.

"I don't know, but it sure seems like it, huh?" she called. Hana was rewinding the tape, watching it backwards for some reason.

"Did you enjoy the movie, Hana-san?" Tohru asked, smiling softly.

"Not in the least." she replied in a monotone voice. Tohru shriveled at that.

"I'm sorry!" she yelped, but Hana just laughed. She ejected the tape and put it back in its spot, then stood in front of Tohru and hugged her.

"I'm sorry you got so scared during the movie. I figured that would happen." She released the girl and smiled warmly. "After all, that's what Uo had planned." she leaned closer to Tohru and whispered into her ear. "Uo-chan will try to scare you, so lock your door tonight." Right after she said that, Saki went off to her room, leaving a rather scared Tohru holding the cat close to her chest.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru shivered under the cover even though it's decently warm in the house. The cat jumped onto the bed for about the third time, curling into a ball on her stomach. _'Maybe even Neko-san knows what Uo-san wants to do...'_ Tohru thought, pulling him closer to her face. He lay face to face with her, staring into her eyes. '_His eyes seem very warm right now.'_ He meowed lowly, rubbing his cheek against her hand. She smiled and began petting his head with some trouble, her hand being at a strange angle. She had changed his bandages right before bed, so they were a bit stiff and he couldn't seem to get comfortable.

An owl hooted loudly outside, startling both Tohru and the cat. Somehow, the cat ended up off of the bed with his head directly planted on the floor, and Tohru is stuck in a crack between the bed and the wall. "Ah!" she whimpered, trying to struggle free; only to fall deeper into the hole. The cat recovered with some trouble, jumping onto the bed and meowing at her in a quiet tone. "N... Neko-san?" she called. He meowed again and she tried to struggle free.

There was a soft clicking behind the locked door, and the cat jumped down with curiosity and sat calmly at the door. He meowed loudly and someone shushed him on the other side. Being the simple person she is, Tohru became frightened by it and tried even harder to get free. She deeper in and soon enough her hip is barely grazing the floor. She tries to push herself further down so that her feet are under the bed, her arms barely resting on the top. Grinning with success, the girl stands up with little trouble, facing the door and having her grin wiped from her lips.

The doorknob turned slowly and the door opened fully, revealing no one outside. The girl's lips begin to shiver with fear and she shrunk under the covers. "Wh... who's there?" she called, her voice muffled by the sheets. She felt the cat jump onto her head and he hissed as if he were protecting her. From underneath the covers, Tohru heard footsteps and shook even more, the cat's claws digging into her scalp. "Ow... Neko-san?" She slowly lifted up her head, the cover still stop it as the cat stayed put. She unveiled her face and was greeted by the deformed face of a man; the eyes bulged out and tongue protruding his lips, glossy with saliva. The girl shrilly screamed, and the man does too with unmoving lips as she cat shrieks and runs under the bed.

It was then that Tohru heard laughing from outside the door. "Oh, Tohru-chan, you scare too easily!" her mother's voice called before she stepped in, holding her sides and shaking from laughter.

"Huh?" she asked, uncovering her eyes and looking to her mother. She turned her head and stared at the man as he took his face off, and she covered her eyes again with a yelp.

"Relax, Tohru-kun. It's just me." Uo says, holding up the discarded mask with one hand.

"U... Uo-san? M... mom?" Just as she gets the words out, the cat jumps out from under the bed, meowing loudly as he attacked the mask, barely missing Uo's hand as she dropped it onto the bed, the cat tumbling to the floor and wrestling with the plastic manufactured toy. The three girls watched him tear the mask to shreds before Kyouko started laughing.

"Ah, shit!" Uo yelled, swinging at the cat, only to miss. "You ruined my best mask! Stupid cat! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" The cat hissed at her and jumped into Tohru's lap, who is only just now recovering. "It's completely ruined," Uo whispered, glaring at the cat. "Stupid cat," she muttered, walking out of the room and past a hysteric Kyouko, on the floor and holding her sides in laughter.

Tohru slowly gazed down at the cat, which seemed pretty angry at the moment. "Neko-san?" He looked up, then back at Kyouko. She grinned and pulled him tightly in her arms, hugging him until he meowed lowly in annoyance. "Oops," she sat him down and stroked his shoulder blades. "You saved me, Neko-san. Thank you so much!" At this point, Kyouko had recovered herself and sat on the foot of Tohru's bed.

"What a funny cat," she said, petting his head as he flinched under her hand. "Thank you, Neko-chan, for making this night fun." She looked up at Tohru and smiled. "Sorry Tohru-chan. But it was irresistible!" Tohru smiled, and simply nodded her head, though she's still shaking. Kyouko stands up and kisses her daughter on the forehead, pets the cat, and leaves the room, shutting the door behind her.

Tohru sat there for a moment, staring at the door. She sighed. "That was so scary!" she told the cat who was trying to fall asleep in her lap. "It seems that Hana-san was right..." She laughed nervously and lay down, petting the cat on his stomach. "I'll never get to sleep now..." she muttered, staring at the ceiling.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Sorry I didn't get this up sooner. I'll be going out of town early Friday morning and won't get back until Sunday night, so when I check this on Monday, I hope to have a lot of reviews! :D


	4. Prince Yuki

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 3:

Prince Yuki

Tohru awoke to the sound of a cats' purring, the birds chirping peacefully outside. She sleepily turned on her side and found the clock reading nine twenty four. She gasped, realizing how late it was, and jumped up only to get her foot stuck in the covers and land face-first on the floor. Hearing the resulting noise of the fall, the cat awoke and stretched sleepily, jumping down and licking her temple. Tohru looked up at him, smiled softly, and unraveled her foot, balancing herself before making her bed.

After she changed and re-bandaged the cats' wonderfully healing wounds, Tohru looked at the clock again and found it to read nine forty three, so she patted the cat on the head and opened her window, watching him jump out and scurry to the bushes to relieve himself. _'Such a smart cat...'_ she thought to herself, resting her chin in her hand as she idly balanced on one foot, kicking the other back and forth while waiting for the feline. When he came back he jumped into the window and Tohru shut it back, opening her bedroom door and strolling into the kitchen.

"It's about time you've woken up, sleepy head." Kyouko called, grinning with a spatula in her hand. Tohru's eyes practically shot out of her head as she ran to the stove, checking to see if anything was burning or being undercooked. With a sigh of relief, she realized that her mother was making French toast - about the only thing she could make without destroying it.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking around the room apologetically. "I didn't mean to sleep in so late; I got to bed late last night." Uo began laughing slightly, catching their attention.

"Were you afraid that I'd scare you again?" she asked, then caught sight of the cat and scowled. "Ruined my mask," she muttered under her breath.

"I was jumpy for the longest time!" Tohru said, exasperated. "I just couldn't get to sleep." She smiled as she beckoned the cat into her arms, catching him as he jumped up.

"It seems that you've already developed a bond with Neko-san." Hana said, pointing to the content cat.

"I'll have to find his owners soon or else I'll want to keep him!" Tohru shrunk when Kyouko gave her a motherly glare that said _"I'll kill you if you do that."_

Hana chuckled as she pointed to the stove, reminding Kyouko of the meal. She gasped and turned around, flipping the two slices of bread and putting cinnamon on the bare sides. She turned back to the group of girls and smiled. "So, what's on the agenda today?" she asked, setting the spatula down.

"Swimming," Uo and Hana said simultaneously. Kyouko nodded.

"How about we skip lunch - since we're eating a late breakfast - and grill out for an early dinner?"

"What time?" Tohru asked, placing a finger to her lips while still holding the cat.

"Uh... four thirty-ish? Maybe five..."

"Five sounds better."

"Okay then!" She turned back to the stove and placed the two slices of bread on a plate and putting two more in the skillet. "We'll swim from eleven thirty to four thirty, then cook dinner and eat. Deal?"

"Deal." The other girls replied simultaneously.

"So, we're returning home when?" Uo asked, tilting her head toward Kyouko. "Two days, right?"

"Yep." Kyouko replied, flipping the bread. She turned her attention to Tohru, frowning. "You haven't found the owner, Tohru-chan."

Tohru looked to the floor guiltily, before she replied. "No," she mumbled.

"I see..."

"I still have two days though!"

"Yes you do, but you've only gone into town once, and that's a small town, Tohru-chan." She sighed, sprinkling cinnamon onto the bread. "I really do think that he's a stray."

"Well, I don't think so," she said, looking down to the cat. "He's too smart... and he's domesticated."

"His waves tell me the same." Hana butt in, smiling slightly at the cat. Everyone stared strangely at her until she continued. "You all know that waves can tell me about ones personality, their feelings, and their lives. Animals are no exception. Neko-san does in fact belong to someone.

"The waves of an animal are more... well, wild than those of a human. But, if that animal is a pet, then their waves will be slightly calmer than a stray; probably due to the domestication." She picked up a plate and held it in her hands as Kyouko was putting the last two pieces of bread into the skillet. "Neko-san has some of the calmest waves for an animal that I've seen." she added, picking up the rest of the plates for the others and beginning to set the table.

The other girls stood speechless as they all moved to the table, then Tohru clapped her hands together and grinned happily. "You're so smart, Hana-san!"

Saki smiled at her. "Thanks, Tohru-kun."

Uo glared at the cat as he sat next to Tohru on the floor, eating fish from last night. "Does he have to sit with us while we eat?" she asked, setting her fork down on her half-empty plate.

Tohru looked up at her innocently, then down to the cat. "Neko-san isn't causing you any trouble, is he?"

"Well it's gross." she replied, crossing her arms.

"It's not as if he's on the table," Hana replied, wiping her mouth daintily and biting into another syrup-drowned piece of toast.

"She's got a point there," Kyouko butt in, just finishing her breakfast.

"Uo-san... eh... he..."

"Just forget it, Tohru. It looks like you've got me beat." She frowned and began chucking the remains of her food into her mouth. Tohru smiled softly, picking up hers and her mother's plates while waiting for her friends to finish. When they did, they brought their and the cats plates to the kitchen and got ready to go swimming while Tohru washed dishes.

She stiffened when something rubbed against her leg, then looked down and held her chest as she realized it was merely the cat. Smiling, and somehow knowing what he wanted, she walked to the front door and opened it, allowing him to run out into the bushes. She sat on the porch then, gazing into nothing until an unfamiliar voice broke her daze.

"Excuse me," the soft voice came, making Tohru turn her head.

"Yes, m-" she cut short when she realized that this person wasn't a woman, but a boy; a boy her age at that. She began blushing at what she had almost said, and then finally said "Yes, sir?" The boy smiled and approached her as the sun bounced off of his silvery hair. It was very beautiful, silky looking even. His eyes were a purple that reminded her of Hana's; just a shade or two lighter.

"I was wondering; have you seen a boy of about my age around here? He's a bit taller, has orange hair and red eyes, oh, and a very bad attitude." As he explained the boy Tohru noticed the distaste in his voice. There was a long silence before she spoke.

"No." she finally said, sounding guilty. "Is he your friend?"

The boy smiled quickly as if she'd said the unspeakable. Somehow though, no trace was left on his lips after that split second. Tohru wondered if he'd even smiled. "I wouldn't exactly call him that... he's my cousin. He recently ran off - as he usually does - and my family and I are searching for him." The boy paused and shock ran through his eyes. "Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." He smiled. "I'm Sohma Yuki." he said, bowing.

She hurried to stand and bowed many times. "I... I'm Honda Tohru!" she stuttered, taken aback by this boy's princely charm. Her cheeks were now slightly pink as she stood before him. His clothes were those that only a rich person could afford to wear; they reminded her of royalty.

He chuckled a bit at her. "Honda Tohru... that sounds familiar." He seemed to stare into nothing as he thought. "But you don't live here, do you?" he asked. She sat back down as she replied to him.

"Urm... no. We come here sometimes - twice or three times a year. Maybe I've seen you?" The boy smiled as if, again, she'd said the unspeakable.

"I doubt that. I, um... don't really get out of the house often, you see?" She looked at him quizzically.

"No...?"

He smiled that smile again. "Of course not... You haven't heard of the Sohma family have you, Honda-san?"

"No, I haven't. Should I?"

"No. No, you shouldn't have." his voice was low when he said that, and he stared at her for a moment before remembering why he'd come.

"Well then, I'm sorry but I have to be going. If you do see my cousin, he goes by the name of Sohma Kyou, so please contact us." He handed her a slip of paper with a phone number on it. "I have a feeling that he won't return willingly." With that, the boy strolled off, leaving Tohru sitting in a daze on her porch.

"Sohma..." she said, looking at the paper. "Sohma Yuki..." Then she remembered the missing boys' name. "Sohma... Kyou." The paper was a torn piece of notebook paper from the top half of the page. There, in the top right hand corner, was a strange symbol that hadn't been drawn, but printed; as if each of the pages in the notebook it came from had the same thing.

Tohru looked closer at the symbol. It was a circle with twelve lines sticking from the edges in perfect proportion; as they would on a clock. It was only one inch tall and wide. Inside that circle were smaller ones that resembled a bulls-eye. There was a single black dot in the middle that, for some reason, stood out. Each of the lines connected to the dot at a precise point, and she realized that the lines gradually got lighter as they extended outward, and eventually faded into nothing. Tohru looked closer and began counting the circles.

"Meow!" Tohru jumped, startled by the cat that appeared from no where.

"Oh! Neko-san! You startled me." she said, glancing from the cat and the paper. He walked closer to her, and looked at the paper as if examining it. For a minute, he just stood there, and then he randomly jumped back with a loud and horrific meow, staring Tohru in the eyes. "Neko-san?!" she shot toward him and clutched the paper in her fist. "What's wrong?" The cat's head jolted this way and that, he looked at the surrounding area, then at his tail, his paws, then raised his head to look into Tohru's eyes. He seemed scared.

"Neko-san? What's wrong?" The cat didn't meow as she thought he'd do, and instead shrunk under her hand as he'd done to the others in the house. "Neko-san?" She pulled him into her arms and held him despite the resistance. Finally, he'd given up and fell limp in her arms. She loosened her grip and held him before her, finding him looking with scared eyes into hers. She sighed sadly, not knowing why he'd had that outburst.

Tohru stood up, still holding the cat in her arms, and walked into her room. She shut the door behind her and placed the cat on her bed. She stood there facing him, neither of them moving. Sitting on her knees, she began patting his head, being sure to avoid causing him any pain. He made a strange, human like sound; something caught between a meow and a muffled voice, and she stopped.

In her other hand, the piece of paper was still balled in her fist. She spread it onto the floor, reading the number again and stroking the symbol with her index finger. "I hope that that Kyou-sama is alright," she muttered, balling the paper in her fist again. "He's just like you, Neko-san." she said, petting him again. "I'll bet he's lost and scared... I wish I could help Kyou-sama too." She remembered Yuki's words.

"_I have a feeling that he won't return willingly."_

"Neko-san, do you think that Kyou-sama doesn't want to go home? That must be sad." The cat tilted his head, as if he were intently listening to her. "If he doesn't want to return home... then... then..." Her eyes became glassy and she felt tears coming. "Poor Kyou-sama... poor Neko-san." The cat walked closer to her and began purring, rubbing his cheek against hers, trying to consol her. She pulled him into her arms and began crying slightly, as she did at the slightest upset.

"Oh, Neko-san! I hope that we can find your owner soon. And I hope that you _want_ to return home." She cried a bit more, and when she finally felt fine, she set the cat back onto her bed. "Thank you, Neko-san." She smiled, petting his head again. "It seems that I just want to keep you more and more!" she said, giggling. Then she turned to her dresser and opened it, getting out her pink checkered two-piece swimsuit and began to change.

The cat meowed loudly as she was taking off her shirt, running under the bed. She looked back, shrugged her shoulders, and continued changing. When she finished, he came back out and ran to the door, but she only shook her head. "You can't go, Neko-san. You have to stay here. I'll be back soon though! And when we grill out I'll bring you out so you can eat with us. See you later!" With that, she opened the door and left the room, leaving the cat staring after her with a tilted head.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru giggled with her three best friends as they all splashed each other in the afternoon sunlight. It was a bit colder today than usual, but they didn't mind. Hana stopped and sat on a rock, smiling broadly, which was unlike her. She was wearing a one-piece black swimsuit, and they all figured she'd wear that or something like it. Her long hair was held up in a high ponytail, but it was still longer than any of theirs.

Uo swam over while Tohru and Kyouko watched in silence, and splashed the girl, startling her off of the rock. She burst into fits of laughter and claimed the spot. "Oh my god! It's actually Hana... startled!! And before that... she was _smiling_!" Hana swam to the top of the water, her long hair flipped over her face and covering her angry eyes.

"You really shouldn't have done that, Uo-chan." she muttered, her head floating above the surface like a bobber.

"Oh, really? And why not?" she asked, still grinning from ear to ear. Her hair too was in a high ponytail, and she was wearing a navy blue two-piece.

"Because," she began, her hair suddenly becoming static-like. "Water conducts electricity." Uo's eyes tripled in size as she stood on the rock, her tip-toes barely balancing her.

"Okay," Kyouko butt in, pulling Hana to shallower waters by the hand. "That's enough, Hana-chan." She smiled as Hana just stared blankly at Uo, who was now swimming toward them.

"You're not still going to shock me, are you?" she asked, keeping distance behind Tohru.

Hana looked at her, then to Kyouko, and then smiled. "Of course not. Kyouko-san wouldn't like it if I did so. I'm not going to make her angry." Kyouko smiled at that.

"Good choice, Hana-chan!" She then tackled the girl, holding her under water for a bit before the two came back up. They all continued to play in the water until dinner time suddenly came. When they all got out of the water and dried off, Tohru hurried to the door.

"I'm going to get Neko-san!" Tohru said, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her body before running into the house. Her feet were wet though, so, being Tohru, she slipped and fell on the floor. "Ow..." she muttered, rubbing her bottom as she sat on her knees now. Just then the doorknob of her bedroom turned with a click, and the door began opening slowly with a creak. Her eyes widened at the sight before her.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Yay for cliffhangers! -claps hands- Did you like that I added Yuki? ;D I wanted to get him in early.

Okay, so it's the fourth of July here in Kentucky and I'm on the computer writing. Why is this? Prepare for a long story.

Okay, I KNOW I told you guys that I'd update whenever I came back from vacation. There's something that you don't know though. Back in February, my computer completely broke down and out of some strange stroke of luck I had saved all of my writing on my jump drive literally the day before it happened. I went without a computer for about a month before we got another one, which came with Microsoft Word 2007 blah blah blah. It was only a trial though, and the trial expired. Since I'm anal about my horrid spelling, I was not about to write on Notepad. I babysit all day so I wouldn't be able to get to a computer. Also, we're a bit low on money, of course, so we couldn't buy the Microsoft stuff. Finally I broke down and called my dad and got his disk so I could have what I have now.

So there's my excuse! I know they mean nothing, so because I love you all so much, I'll update today or tomorrow.


	5. Returning

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 4:

Returning

Tohru stared on as her door opened wider, and as the cause of it walked out, she gasped.

"Neko-san, you scared me!" she yelled, sitting on her knees with her palms on the floor. He just sat there, right outside of her door as she stared at him. Her eyes jerked from him to the door and back again, and she grinned widely. "You're so smart, Neko-san! I can't believe that you opened the door on your own."

The cat meowed and walked over to her, staring at the door rather than the girl.

"Oh, I see." She smiled, standing up and dusting her bottom and walking to the door. She opened it and he walked toward the bushes, opposite of where her friends were sitting. Tohru sat contently on the porch though, staring into nothing.

"Tohru-chan, what will you be eating?" her mother asked, walking over to her. Tohru tilted her head up and grinned.

"Whatever you're making!" she exclaimed just as the cat was returning.

Kyouko was about to reply when Uo yelled over to her "Yo, how do I know if the food's burning?" Kyouko sighed and tousled Tohru's hair, running back over to Uo and scolding her for setting the grill too high.

Tohru smiled at her friends, deciding to leave the cat alone and walk over to them. Hana was sitting at the table, reading one of the many books that she had brought with her. Without looking from the page, she picked up a stick for shish kabobs and handed one to Tohru.

When the girl took it, Hana kept hold and looked up to her, smiling. "Tohru, could you do us all a big favor?"

Tohru looked around and realized that her mother and Uo were glancing their way every now and then, pretending to flip the burgers. Kyouko was smiling sheepishly when Tohru caught her eye. The girl turned back to Hana and smiled. "Sure!"

"That's wonderful," the girl replied in a monotonous voice. She took the stick from Tohru's hand and pointed to the grill, which held the different things that they were cooking. "We seemed to have forgotten to get any vegetables for the shish kabobs, and were wondering if you would be so kind as to go to the store and get them."

Tohru absentmindedly nodded her head as she took inventory of what they had there, and Hana was right. It was all meat. She turned back to her friend and smiled. "Sure thing!" she said, turning to her mother. "Can I have some money then, mom?" she asked, holding out a hand.

"Yep. Thank you, Tohru." She dug into her pocket and shoved some money into Tohru's hand without counting it. "Why don't you take Neko-san too? Today is the last day that you can look for his owner." Tohru's heart fell at that.

"Sure thing, I'll see you guys later then." With that, she went into the house. Running into her room, she found the cat staring out of her window, which happened to overlook the spot that her friends and mother were standing.

"Neko-san!" she called, gaining his attention. He looked back over to her and jumped down, rubbing against her legs. She smiled, petting his head and shooing him off. "I'm going to change and then I'm going to take you into town, okay?" The cat didn't do anything but walk to her door and sit right outside of it. She smiled softly and shut the door and the curtains before changing.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru walked onto the sidewalk with a bag hanging from each shoulder; one empty for the groceries, and one with the cat in it. She smiled politely at each person that walked by, trying to make it obvious that she had a cat with her. No one took notice though, and the disappointment almost caused her to pass by the store. She scanned through the papers by the door, checking for any missing cat posters, and found none, walking into the store and intending to get finished with a quick shopping trip.

She walked straight to the peppers, milling through the produce to find the best that she could get. After finally settling on two decently big peppers, she stuffed them into her bag and turned around. She wasn't looking though, and ended up knocking over a little girl. She began to cry, and Tohru dropped to the ground, trying to calm the crying girl that was attracting attention.

"Aya," a woman called, running over to the little girl and scooping her into her arms. "What's wrong, did someone do something?" She looked down at Tohru and gave her an angry look. "What did you do to my daughter?" she demanded, bouncing the girl who Tohru guessed to be three on her hip.

"Oh!" Tohru stood up, bowing and causing the cat to fall out of the bag. "I'm sorry; I... I turned around and d-didn't see her. I accidentally knocked her down." She straightened

herself and silently allowed the cat to jump into her arms.

"M-mommy!" the girl said through tears, gaining attention from everyone in the store. The woman turned to the spectators and gave them all and evil look. When they all turned away, the girl spoke again. "She has Neko-chan! Look! It's Neko-chan!"

'_Neko... chan?'_ she asked herself, thinking that this couldn't be the girls cat. The girl was now pointing and kicking, trying to get to the cat.

"You stole Neko-chan away from us; didn't she, mommy?!" the girl demanded, jumping from her mothers arms and reaching for the cat. Finally, Tohru spoke.

"Um... is this your kitty?" she asked politely, and the girl nodded. When she handed the cat to the girl, her mother snatched it from her daughters' hands and held him in front of her face, staring him in the eyes. Tohru was surprised that he didn't claw the woman's eyes out.

"This isn't our cat." she stated, shoving him back into Tohru's arms.

"Eh?!" Tohru held the cat closer to her chest, taking one step forward. "Are... are you sure? Neko-san is not mine; I found him and have been trying to find his owner. He has a lot of energy and seems very angry sometimes. He also has a human-like personality." She smiled, holding him out a bit further. "And he has red eyes."

The woman picked up her daughter again and stared at Tohru. "Our cat is dead," she said, causing the girl to begin crying again.

"No she's not! Someone stole her, mommy! That girl stole Neko-chan!" she bawled, rubbing her eyes with her fists.

"I'm... I'm sorry." Tohru murmured, and the woman walked away.

Tohru stood there for a moment as the small crowd that was around the group vanished. She hugged the cat tightly, picking up the two dropped bags, placing him in one, and continued her shopping.

After she finished, Tohru walked outside and found it to be a bit colder than it was earlier. Being in a soft pink dress that went down to her knees, she almost shivered as a cold wind rushed passed her, sending her pigtails flying about her head. She smiled down at the cat, petting his head as he peeked out of the bag.

"It's okay, Neko-san," she said, gaining attention from people that were walking in and out of the store. "I'm going to find your owner, don't worry." That wasn't what she was thinking though. Inside her thoughts, she was saying _'What will I do now?'_ as she walked down the sidewalks.

As she reached the dirt road that lead her through the woods and home, a new idea entered Tohru's mind. It was a dreadful idea; one that Tohru hoped that she didn't to resort to, though she knew that she probably would have to anyway.

The girl looked down to the cat, smiling bitter-sweetly when he meowed. _'Is it worth it?'_ she wondered silently, watching him jump out of the bag. He began walking down the path that it took to get home and she smiled, following him and allowing her thoughts to envelope her very being.

'_I feel a very strange connection to Neko-san... as if I was meant to know him. It's almost as if I've actually known him before... in a past life, maybe? I guess that's possible... Mom always says that how we are today and who we meet reflects on our past lives, so maybe that's why I feel this way toward Neko-san. But I can't help but think against that. After all, this feels... well... like our bond was built in __**this**__ life, not another.'_ She smiled slightly at how strange her words sounded, even to her.

'_This is confusing me, and for some reason I feel like it's going to get worse. It's almost like something inside myself is waiting for me, just waiting for me to find out so it can attack me.'_ She shuddered at the strangely dark thought she had.

'_But... what will I do about him?'_ she asked herself, feeling vulnerable with this topic. _'I can't keep him, but I don't want to leave him alone... I can't leave him alone. Yes, he's healed enough and could probably find a way home if he wanted to, but I still can't leave him.'_

She shook her head defiantly. _'I know that she'll put up a fight, but I have to try. Mom will just have to let me stay longer... only another week.'_ She paused, thinking of her lack of progress. _'Maybe two, but that's it; then I'm done with this whole thing. If I can't find his owner by then, I'll... I'll have to leave Neko-san here. He can survive, I'm sure.'_

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the cat stop, having just arrived at her house. He let out a warning-type of shriek, causing her to stop mid-step before stepping on him. "Sorry, Neko-san," she muttered, still in a slight daze. Her mother called her over and she smiled, replying "I'll be right over!"

Tohru turned to leave, but then turned back to the cat and knelt on the ground. She patted his head and smiled. "Well, Neko-san, be proud of yourself. I'm going to try to stay another week, maybe two so I can find your owner." She stood back up, but another thought entered her mind, and she returned to her position.

"Neko-san, you're very smart, and I'll bet you can understand me." She waited for a response, but he gave none. "Well, if you _can_ understand me, Neko-san, hear this: Mom won't let me stay unless I give her a good reason. Please, Neko-san, act sick. I can tell her that I still need to take care of you." With that, she turned one last time and left.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Hana popped another piece of pork from the shish kabob into her mouth, smiling and chewing slowly. "This is wonderful, Kyouko-san. Thank you for making it." Kyouko smiled as she had finished off a second hotdog.

"Don't mention it, Hana-chan!" She pulled two more shish kabobs to her plate and got a handful of potato chips. "I'm glad that our last meal here could be a good one - tomorrow for breakfast we're just going to get doughnuts on the way out."

Uo smiled and stole a chip from Hana's plate. "Yeah, Hanajima-chan, don't be so polite!" she teased, gaining a slight shock on her forehead. Tohru was innocently watching as she slipped another shish kabob under the table for the cat.

Noticing Uo grab her forehead the way everyone does when they get shocked by Saki, Kyouko smiled and teasingly kicked her. "You girls fight like you're sisters or something!"

"We might as well be," replied Uo, who grabbed a second hamburger and soda.

"Oh, no way am I going to adopt the two of you!" she teased, pointing to the both on them with her middle and index fingers. "You fight like there's no tomorrow!" She took a sip of her soda and dug back into her food.

"You're all eating an awful lot tonight," commented Tohru, innocently trying to join in on the fun. She daintily pulled a vegetable - it was so burnt that she didn't know what it was - off of her shish kabob and threw it into her mouth. It turned out to be meat. She still didn't know what kind though.

"Well Tohru, it's the end of our wonderful vacation." Kyouko wiped a fake tear from her left eye. "We have to go out with a bang." Her eyes widened, and she jolted up, running into the house and returning minutes later with a box that She could almost fit in.

"Speaking of which," Arisa commented teasingly - she already knew the surprise because it was her idea.

"Speaking of which," Kyouko began loudly, playfully scolding the girl for almost giving it away. "We're lighting fireworks tonight!" Hana looked at her unemotionally, while sitting next to her, the opposite Tohru's eyes lit up with joy as her hands clapped together in delight.

"Oh, what fun!" she exclaimed, standing and wiping her hands on a napkin before running over to her mother and almost tackling the box. Her mother grinned and moved the box out of the way just in time, causing Tohru to make a face-plant in the dirt.

"Not so fast, Tohru-chan," she said, setting the box down and helping the girl up, laughing the whole time. "Ice cream first!" she exclaimed, and Tohru's eyes lit up again.

"Yay!" She followed her mother to the kitchen, bouncing with that energy of hers.

Uo rolled her eyes while smiling at the girls' innocence, beginning to clean off the table. Hana, on the other hand, continued eating pig like a pig.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru happily chewed on the cone of her ice cream as she watched another firework light the sky. The cat, next to her, cringed at the sound as he'd done before, but still stayed next to her. She looked down at him and smiled, thinking of her plan as a drop of strawberry ice cream fell onto her hand. He happily licked it up with his rough tongue, leaving her hand slightly damp from it.

Another firework shot up, this one being the grand finale. The cat didn't cringe this time as his eyes followed it, Tohru's doing the same. It went high into the sky, smaller ones surrounding it as the sky lit up with reds, oranges, and whites. Whistles sounded and there were loud booms and cracks.

The main one lasted longest, and after the others went out, it exploded again, this time bursting into oranges and pinks, tiny specks of red coming from the edges as they reflected in the pair's eyes. And then, after those died out, the sky was bear with the smoke left from the festivities, and every once in a while a full moon was seen behind it.

Tohru smiled a bit longer, enjoying the resulting silent awe of the fireworks as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The cat pawed at her hand clutching the ice cream above his head, and eventually it fell onto the deck and he licked it up with purrs on his lips.

Snapping out of her daze, Tohru looked down at him and smiled slightly. "You like ice cream, huh, Neko-san?" He looked up at her for a moment, but lowered his head back to lick up the remains of the ice cream. She smiled, leaving him to his job and walking over to the group of girls picking up remains of fireworks.

"I'll help," She said, not sure if it was in her mind or aloud, but doing so anyway. She picked up the debris that happened to be by her foot, throwing it to Arisa, who somehow sensed it coming and turned, catching the projectile in the garbage bag.

"Thanks, Tohru-chan!" she called, walking over to Saki and allowing her to dump about three or four pieces of containers into the bag. As the girls finished up, Tohru ran her plan through her mind a few times, getting angry with herself more and more each time she thought about it. This was going to be hard on her.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The four girls walked tiredly into the house with the cat on their heels. His left paw was being dragged, and Tohru claimed that she'd take him to her room and see what the problem was.

Shutting the door behind her, she picked up the cat and unraveled his bandages, examining the wounds. They had healed almost perfectly, and only scabs were left. Not wanting him to scratch and reopen them though, Tohru cleaned them and re-bandaged them, using less gauze and not making them as tight. With the job done, she laid on her stomach, staring him in the eyes on the floor.

She whispered to him "Neko-san, you have to act sick. I... really hate to lie to mom, so I'm going to try not to. But, if worse comes to worse, I'll tell her that your wounds are infected." She felt really stupid, talking to a cat like this, but she felt strongly that he understood her. "Just act like they're sore if I say that." She sighed, standing up and opening up the door as she walked to the living room with the cat right behind.

"Mom," she called weakly, finding her mother sitting on the couch between Saki and Arisa, watching the television.

"Yeah?"

"Could I... um, talk to you?" she asked.

"Sure thing," She turned the television off and motioned to the chair diagonal from her. "About what, Tohru-chan?" she asked, shifting to give herself room between the sleeping Uo and the dazed-out Hana.

"Well, it's about Neko-san." she muttered, knowing the reaction of her mother.

"Oh...?" she urged with a look of annoyance on her face. The cat then slowly walked up to a nervous Tohru and slowly jumped into her lap, meowing softly.

"Well... I... um... have yet to find an owner." she blurted the six words out in a jumbled mess, barely coherent; but, expecting that answer, Kyouko understood.

"Is that all Tohru? Because if it is-"

"Not... exactly..." she mumbled, looking bashfully to the floor. "I was... I was wondering if I could stay another two weeks... to find the owner."

"_Two weeks?!_" her mother bellowed, standing up and causing Uo to fall like a rock on her side and Hana to snap out of her daze, paying attention to the two.

"Y-y-yes...?"

"Tohru, you can't stay here... _alone_ for two weeks!"

"I've been alone before..." she tried defending, but her mother jumped on that one.

"For what; three hours?"

The girl sighed, looking up at her mother with pleading eyes. "Mom, please? I'm old enough, I'm not in a dangerous city; I'll be fine." She looked down at the cat, who was listening intently to the conversation. "I can't leave him,"

"Tohru," the woman said, exasperated. She dropped to her knees and placed a hand on her daughters' knee, smiling as sweetly as she could. "You're too naive. Anything could happen. You're defenseless. I can't leave you here alone."

"I'm old enough mom, and I'm not _so_ defenseless." She held up the cat jokingly. "I have Neko-san to protect me." She shrunk at the look her mother gave her and sat the cat back onto her lap. "Really, I have all I need to defend myself; besides, when was the last time you saw anyone around here?" she asked, keeping the Sohma boy from her mind.

"Tohru,"

"Please!" She held up the cat again. "Besides, Neko-san still needs treatment! His wounds aren't healing as well as I thought."

The cat meowed weakly and gave Kyouko the best pity look he could muster. He even licked her forehead.

"Tohru," she tried fighting back, falling to sit on her butt.

"Please, mom. I'll call you every day, I swear." She smiled sweetly and looked pleadingly into her mothers' eyes. "Please?"

Her mother smiled a bit and rolled her eyes. "Fine, Tohru. Two weeks, but that's it!"

Tohru grinned and set the cat in the chair, tackling her mother and hugging her tightly. "Thank you so much, mom!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

D; I feel kind of bad for leaving Kyou a cat. Okay, really bad. Haha. I figured though that it would be less awkward if Kyouko and the others weren't around. Don't worry though! He'll change back REALLY soon!

I'm just going to take this moment to thank you guys for all of your positive feedback. I'm really glad that you like this story! I'll have an update the day after tomorrow, so stay tuned!

By the way, the curse is DEFINATELY dealt with differently in this story. It is, after all, an AU. ;D I'll explain it a bit more in the next few chapters (O: spoiler, much?) so you'll just have to see…!


	6. A Curse Revealed

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 5:

A Curse Revealed

Tohru waved her mother and friends off, smiling all the while with slight hints of tears in her eyes. For the first time in her life, she was going to be all alone for two weeks. The thought unnerved her, causing her to become paranoid and begin looking around to see if someone was spying on her. Suddenly thoughts of the slimmest of possibilities ran through her mind; a robbery, murder, flood… aliens!

"Neko-san?" she called, her voice wavering ever so slightly as she turned around. She looked through the light bush that he could be hiding in, finding no spots of orange. She walked into the house and found no trace of the missing cat. Suddenly, the thought took hold and constrained her; being alone in a big house for a whole two weeks.

"Neko-san?!" she called again, looking under the deck outside. It was then that the cat decided to jump out, landing on her back with his claws slightly poking her back. With a yelp, she shot up and threw him from her back, hitting her head on the top of the deck in the process. She sat in the dirt that now had her pale yellow dress a slightly darker color, looking at him in surprise.

"Ah, Neko-san, you scared me." she said, smiling at the creature that walked over to her. She patted his head and decided to busy herself with some housework, beginning with the cleaning of the kitchen – which Kyouko made a mess of. She faced it with a determined look as the cat walked away from her with not interest at all, leaving the girl to do the work piled against her.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru sighed as she stood back, smiling at the clean laundry room with the piles of towels sitting on the dryer. It was now early in the evening, so she walked into the kitchen and found the cat sitting by the fridge. Smiling, she said "I knew you'd be hungry," and she prepared their quick meal of leftovers from the grill out.

After dinner, Tohru simply threw the dishes into the sink, being too tired and lazy to finish them at the moment – a strange feeling for her. She strolled into the living room and sat on the couch, finding the time to be decently early.

She called the cat, hearing nothing in response, trying once more. She heard a strangled sound coming from the laundry room, then a distinct _thump_ and another distraught noise. She jolted up, running to the source, fearing for the cats' life. "Neko-san!" she yelled as she busted into the room, her eyes averting from one corner of the room to the next, quickly taking in each detail that she could manage.

Finally, her huge eyes fell upon the stack of towels – now lying muddled in the floor with a lump moving from the center toward Tohru. She sighed with relief, walking toward the pile and pulling the unharmed cat from the mess of towels. He meowed in a chopped breath, jumping from her arms and landing at the edge of the towels.

He looked up at her for a few moments, and she simply stood there, watching him. Quickly, he picked up one of the bigger towels and surprisingly ran from the room with it in his mouth. A gasp escaped her lips as Tohru chased after him, calling his name. He didn't respond as he ran from the living room, throwing the towel to his back with a flick of his head. He ran outside the opened door that was left from his restroom break with Tohru following him.

There was a loud boom of thunder that jolted Tohru, leaving her clutching for the doorframe as she watched the cat run off into the forest. "Neko-san!" she called, looking up in horror to the sky. She hesitated for only a moment, and then threw herself from the entrance. "Neko-san!" she called again, her eyes trying to focus on everything at once.

Despite the bandages on his stomach and front paw, he ran much more quickly than the girl. She kept running though, and her outstretched hand had no chance of catching the cat. "Neko-san, where are you going? Don't go any further," she pleaded, somehow speeding up. The feline glanced over his shoulder, his speed never wavering as tears began to appear in her eyes.

They were now into the woods and trees and animals surrounded them. Tohru was remembering the day that she found him; when she smelled that horrible stench and the tree nearly fell on her. "Neko-san!!" she called, her voice almost failing her as she fell, scraping her knees on the hard earth and rocks that she clumsily landed on. She sat there watching him and his running slowed.

Eventually, almost out of her sight, he stopped and stared back at her as a small amount of tears fell from her eyes. She had to strain her eyes to see from that distance, the tears affecting her vision. "I want to help you, Neko-san," she muttered, too quietly for him to hear. She heard a quiet meow from him, and then a loud barking from somewhere in the distance. Startled, the cat ran back for her, a loud, human-like sound coming from the depths of his throat. He jumped into her lap, looking up at her with large eyes.

There were three more barks; from that same dog it sounded like. The cat somehow softly clawed her, jostling her out of the motionlessness. She quickly stood up and held the cat in her arms as twigs broke around her, and she knew that another animal was in her presence. She quickly ran, unknowing that the path she had chosen led further from her house. The towel that was on the cats' back was draped on her arms and swung as her feet pounded the ground. There was another clap of thunder as she spoke; her voice clouded by the noise. "Neko-san, you know what's going on, don't you?" she asked through pants, never looking anywhere but forward. He meowed in that human-like voice that he'd acquired.

She silently nodded, as if understanding what he'd told her. The dogs' barking was getting louder, and even more ferocious than before. She silently thought that this cat was getting her into a lot of trouble lately, but somehow didn't want to leave him. Something told her that she needed him, too.

As the girl kept running, she slowly made it to a clearing; her clearing. The fallen tree was still there, and three squirrels that inhabited it ran away at the presence of another creature and a clap of thunder that just sounded. She stopped, panting and feeling as if her knees were going to buckle underneath her. She looked around with a panted whimper between quivering lips, remembering all that had ensued here.

Tohru looked at him, her eyes flooding with tears as fear once again enveloped her body to an extent where she could hardly breathe. Another crack of thunder sounded and out of the corner of her eye, she saw lightning pierce the gray sky. The storm was nearing and she had no where to go. The cat jumped down and meowed in that strange meow of his, tilting his head and staring at her as if telling her to follow him. Slowly and silently, as if mindlessly in fact, she stood up with her scared eyes on him. There were no noises but the ones from the pair and the storm that they were stuck in.

"Le… lead the way, Neko-san." He purred and rubbed against her leg, reassuring her in the best way he could. Then, he led her to the place where her perspective would change forever; acting merely on the hope that she was the right one…

Tohru had felt like she'd traveled for miles, but kept right behind the cat. The storm had still yet to approach but the wind was horrible, chilling her to the core. She'd wished that she had brought something to cover her bear legs and arms, but she'd rushed out without a thought. The cat hadn't slowed, still running at his great pace. She could actually feel him getting faster with the time that passed; surprised that she'd kept up with him.

Finally, the girl dropped to the ground, panting for air. She whimpered as the cat ran on, watching him stop in the distance. They'd lost the dog long ago; she didn't know why they were running anymore. He ran back to her and rubbed his cheek against hers, and he meowed in a low tone, looking at her with strange eyes. They seemed to be getting darker as she stared into them, the red hue leaving and some other one taking its' place.

"Neko-san…" she panted, petting his head. "I can't… I can't go any... further."

He meowed from the back of his throat and looked at her strangely, using his paw to tap on her leg. He jumped to and from her lap; looking over his shoulder and tilting his head as if to say _"Come on, just a bit further."_ She sighed, long and high as she stood, her muscles aching from the long run and fear that still held her. He meowed again, and she walked over to him and picked up the towel that was weighing him down.

As if triggered, the rain poured from the sky with such intensity that if she hadn't known better, she would have believed the sky had saved this endless amount for just this place, just this time, and just this pair. She held the towel over her head, thankful for the strange actions of the cat back at the house, and continued following after him.

Soon though, he was lost in the trees, too fast for her. She ran in his general direction as she continued chasing after him, pushing her body further and further to keep up with the feline. Tohru soon found him sitting in the path, rain covering him as he waited, and no sooner than she caught up to him, he took off again. Time grew on, and she was surprised when they fell upon a stream.

The cat slowed to a walk as they approached it, the surrounding area looking eerie as a mist covered the grounds, which didn't allow them to see the other side of the body of water. As they neared it, Tohru could find a strange reddish glow from the bottom of the stream that didn't seem more than four and a half feet below. Rain pounded upon the water and distorted the image, not allowing her to see the source of the glow. She and the cat stood side by side at the water, looking at the object as the thunder sounded again and lightening pierced the sky, speeding her heart rate even more than before.

A stench filled her nose and the cat jumped in, the smell leaving as soon as his splash was heard. She yelped in reaction, staring wordlessly into the water as the rain pounded harder, dissolving the glow into nothing along with the image of the cat. His discarded bandages floated calmly to the top of the water and she called him, gaining no response as she leaned forward, the towel dropping from her head to her shoulders as she gazed on. Then, another splash was heard, and before she could comprehend anything that was happening, a boy was standing before her.

She screamed; her eyes taking in his every unwanted detail as the time seemed to slow for her. He was nearly a head taller than her, frightening yet warm red eyes and unruly wet orange hair. His tanned body was bare, and everything was to be seen as the water dripped from each part of his body to the already moist ground as he stood not two feet in front of her, his hands at his sides and his eyes staring deeply into her own. She slowly stepped back, her lips quivering in fear as he stepped forward, not allowing any space between them to increase. She tripped over a stone, falling to the ground as he repeated her motions, balancing himself right over her with one hand lying directly next to her head, the other wrapping around the towel on her neck.

She whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut, pulling her head back as far as it would go as his warm hand snaked its' way behind her neck, fixating itself between her bare neck and towel as the rain continued pounding her face, chilling her hot cheeks and mixing with the free flowing tears. Time returned to normal speed as he yanked the towel from behind her neck, her head falling back more into the mud as he leapt from her and quickly wrapped it around his waist, covering the exposed area. He still stared at her.

She sat up and used her hands and feet in a sitting position to make her way back, moving as quickly as she could until her back had an untimely meeting with the hard bark of a tree. He still stood in the distance as he continued staring at her; and her eyes couldn't leave his for the longest time. In fact, she hadn't realized that he was kneeling in front of her until he spoke, his breath stroking her face with deep words.

"You're... Tohru?" he asked, his voice sounding as if it hadn't been used for some time. She whimpered a response as she wordlessly nodded her head, almost hitting his forehead at the closeness as she balanced herself with each hand at her sides. The boy nodded as well, sitting back a bit. "You know me, and you won't believe it, but I'm your cat." he muttered, and at first she wondered if she heard him right.

"N... Neko-san?" she asked, looking behind him and finding no soaked cat. "N-no! Tha... that can't be...! You're... not Neko-san! You're a boy!"

A look of bewilderment passed his face as his head fell back a bit. "I know I'm a boy..." he muttered, staring into her eyes once more.

"You're not Neko-san..."

"Tohru, I've been living with you for nearly a week and you've been healing my wounds." The rain was pounding so hard that she couldn't see any evidence of healing wounds, so he took her hand and ran it against his, and she felt a distinct scab there. He then moved her hand to his head, where one was to be found there too - which seemed to be bleeding now. Then, he moved her hand to his upper stomach, running it along the line of the scab that had been on the felines' body, reaching to his hipbone and then to his back, but he let go of her hand there. "You're staying for an extra two weeks," he muttered, adding more to his proof. Her hand still lingered there and ran back up the wound, and she even smiled slightly when she retracted her hand.

"Neko-san is a quick healer," she muttered, as if speaking to someone else.

"I know I am... it has to do with the curse."

"Curse?" she mimed, but he didn't respond, and instead turned his head up as if looking for something. "Ne-" He shoved his hand over her mouth, her entire body directly against the back of the tree and his resting on top of hers, his hand on her lips, silencing her as he leaned in closer still, placing a hand against the tree trunk above her head as if hiding her from something. He bent his head down, whispering into her ear.

"I'll answer questions soon, but I have to get you to a safe place - can you be quiet?" She nodded against his hand and he did so as well, finding something else to say to her. "Listen, if you run, you're going to trip. I'm carrying you." She nodded again, trying not to make him angry. He released her, kneeling down and silently motioning for her to get onto his back. She agreed, and climbing on, she allowed one of his arms to hold her in place, the other reserved for the obvious task of holding the towel. Then, he took off with almost inhuman speed, the rain bulleting her face as they swerved through trees.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

'_I don't know what to do,'_ he thought, sitting in the chair of the living room and staring at the sleeping girl. _'It was so suddenly that it happened... that I was glad for her to lock me in that room the last day of their vacation. Like a stream that has been blocked by a dam, the dam had broken and they all came flooding back. To say the least, it scared the hell out of me. After all, it's not every day that bad memories of your past all come back to you in a single blow. I almost wish that I would have stayed that way; as a stupid cat not knowing that I have a world of pain and danger waiting around the corner._

'_Almost. But then there's Tohru. She doesn't know... who I am; innocently taking care of a monster. If she really knew who I was, she'd cower in fear... Either that or try to kill me like the others. And the sad thing is that I don't know what I want to do... part of me wants her to know, because I feel like I'm deceiving her; undeserving of her trust. The other part wants to just leave... leave her here to wonder what happened to the strange boy in the forest or her beloved cat... but that would mean leaving her alone; and also making her worry.'_

He sighed heavily, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "What to do..." he wondered aloud, looking back to the sleeping girl. "Why do I... feel like I know you? Why is it that... I have the need to protect you?" She smiled in her sleep and he knitted his eyebrows. "Who are you, Tohru... who are you to me?" His intense gaze wasn't to leave the girl until she would awaken.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru awoke with a headache, slightly cold but much warmer than she had been before. She smelt burning wood and knew that a fire was roaring, and jolted up when she remembered that she was in the forest. She looked around, slowly taking in the fact that she was in her house. The girl tossed her legs over the side of the couch, her bear feet touching the cold hardwood floor as she flinched at the soreness of her back.

"You're awake," a voice called from somewhere in the room, and she turned to find a boy sitting on the chair with his arms crossed.

"N... Neko-san?" she asked, sitting back a bit.

The boy smirked in annoyance as he tilted his head away from her, his closed eyes twitching. "Don't call me that; I'm not a cat."

"But I thought you were,"

"Well, yeah, but that's different." She held her head instead of responding, shivering from her wet clothes. "Why don't you go change? You're still wet from the rain." he offered, getting up to get the fire going again.

"Y-yes, but, Neko-san?" He twitched, but turned to her. "Will you tell me what's going on?" The boy glared at her, then knelt in front of the fire and poked at it, muttering "yeah" with his back faced to her.

Tohru nodded and slowly stood, walking into her room and changing. As she was pulling the pajama bottoms on, she spotted the paper with the phone number on it, her eyes lingering there before pulling the pants up and taking her top off, putting another dry one on. She stopped with her hands in mid-air, looking back at it. Tohru sighed and finally pulled the shirt down, walking over to the desk and picking up the paper.

'_Kyou Sohma..._' she thought, rolling her eyes at the ridiculous accusation. She sat it down before going into the bathroom, grabbing two pills for her headache and back pain and taking them before returning to the boy in the living room. As she got a better look at him, she realized that he was wearing clothes - which wouldn't be weird if he'd showed up in them. It seemed that he re-opened his wounds too, for they were bleeding through.

"Wh-what are you wearing?" she asked him, blushing a bit.

He scoffed at that and fell into the chair, giving her and angry look. "It's this or the towel," he said, watching her sit down. "Besides, it's just sweats and a t-shirt - it's not like I'm wearing a skirt or anything."

Tohru lowered her head and blushed deep red. "I'm sorry," she muttered, sitting in silence until she spoke again. "I'll go into town tomorrow and get you some clothes."

"Y-you don't have to do that," he stammered, gazing into the fire across from him.

Ignoring that, she asked "Do you want some gauze for your wounds? Or do you know how to bandage them?"

"Just give me the stuff and I can do it myself." he muttered, and she hurried to the bathroom to grab the medical kit.

"You may not be able to do the one on your stomach," she said when returning, handing him the kit. "It goes almost all the way around..."

"Well there's no other way it's getting done," he murmured, signaling that he didn't want her near him.

After he finished, they sat there a bit longer, Tohru being afraid to anger him and him with just nothing to say. Finally, curiosity took way and she asked him "Neko-san?" He stiffened at that.

"Don't call me that!" he yelled, sitting forward in the chair.

"Oh! I'm sorry," she said, sitting back and pulling the cover to her chin. "What's your name?" she asked with her eyes wide.

The boy hesitated before muttering "Kyou,"

"Kyou-san?" she tried again in a small voice. His eyes shifted over to her. "Tell me what's going on... please?"

"I..." he sighed, his hands rubbing his temples. "I don't know where to start... I don't... want to tell you..."

"Oh," she said, not wanting to push the subject, but still wanting to know. "Tell me about your "curse" then," He looked back over to her, and his eyes narrowed.

"You know about it - I turn... into a cat." he muttered, signaling something more.

"What else, Kyou-san?" she urged, leaning forward a bit.

"You don't want to know."

"I do! I... I promised I'd help you..." His eyes widened at her words, and he stared at her with his mouth agape.

"But... that was before," he finally spoke, shifting uncomfortably. "I'm... it's... different, now."

"No it's not," she insisted, smiling slightly. "You're still you and I'm still me, and a promise is still a promise."

"You don't even know how to help me," He looked toward the ground, suddenly more sullen than before. Tohru sighed, getting up and sitting at his feet as she gently laid a hand on his arm.

"But I want to."

Staring into her kind eyes, he felt his story slowly unfolding inside of him, giving her the only trust he'd had left with the fear that had followed him. She'd only betray him like everyone else.

"Well... you know I'm cursed - but that goes further than you'd think." He sighed, getting a far off look in his eyes. He somehow felt obliged to tell her, so he did so. "I'm a part of a large family that is cursed with ten animals of the zodiac. There's the ox, rooster, monkey, snake, rabbit, horse, dragon, tiger, rat, bore... and then there's me, the cat."

"Oh!" Tohru chimed in, catching his attention. "I know that story! I've always wanted to be the cat!"

Kyou smirked unevenly. "No, you don't." He got up again and poked the fire a bit more, then walked back and sat on the couch to get some distance from the girl. She sat next to him though, and insisted that she wanted to be the cat.

"I know all about that story. There was a banquet that God invited all of the animals to, and the rat played a trick on the cat, telling him that it was a day later than it really was. The rat also made a fool of the ox, riding on his back to the banquet. The poor cat slept through the whole thing, and he's always been excluded from the zodiac." She stared into the fire, remembering the first time she'd heard that story. "My mom told me that story, and I cried for the cat. Since then, I've always wanted to be born as the cat too, so that the cat from the legend wouldn't be so lonely." She looked up at him and asked, very sadly "Are you lonely, Kyou-san?"

He stared at her for a moment, at a loss for words. This girl had known him - _actually known him_ - for only an hour, if that, and already she was butting into his life! _'That's polite...'_ he said within himself, but for some reason, wasn't angry, and without thinking, he said "Sometimes," The boy caught himself though, and added "But that was when I was little! I don't need anybody now! No one!"

Tohru hesitated, and then looked into his eyes. "Does your family... exclude you, Kyou-san?" A long pause filled the room.

"In... in more ways than one." he muttered, that peaceful feeling leaving his body. "You see, when our bodies, minds, or spirits become very weak, we turn into an animal of the zodiac - our animal. There are other things to the curse though; things that I can't go into right now for many reasons. Basically though, there are more... dangerous things that come with the curse. These are things that people can't know of... understand?"

Tohru nodded, but looked at him quizzically. "Why are you telling me this, Kyou-san?"

"I... I don't know. All I know... is that I feel like I'm _supposed_ to tell you. You just... can't tell anyone else."

"Kyou-san, I promise not to tell anyone else... as long as you promise to tell me why you're here."

Kyou looked to the clock, seeing it read nine thirty - early enough to go into detail. "Okay, but pay attention, because I've never told anyone; none of us have. If I tell you this, I'm breaking the rules of the Sohma family." Tohru nodded, but while he was collecting his thoughts, her eyes went wide and she ran into her room. "Tohru?" he called after her, quickly following her into her room. "What are you-"

The two ran into each other and fell to the ground, Kyou recovering first. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Ignoring his outburst, she held up the scrap of paper in both of her hands with the phone number on it, her eyes wide. "Sohma Kyou... cousin of Sohma Yuki?" she asked.

His eyes narrowed and he lowered her hands with one of his, crumpling the paper inside both of their hands and staring into her eyes angrily. "The rat,"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Yes, it's a late update. ;-; Gomen nasai. Another one will come soon.


	7. God and the Animals

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

_**Scenes with breaks like this:**__ -x-x-x-x-x-x-__** are flashbacks, daydreams, ect.**_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 6:

God and the Animals

Tohru again fell into his eyes. "The... rat?" she asked, his single hand tightening on her small ones. As his hand tightened, hers loosened around the paper and in one quick second he was holding the paper at his side in a clenched fist. Tohru gasped, lunging forward and trying to get the paper back. "Give it back, please!" she ordered, though not sounding too orderly with the "please" and tone of her voice.

"And then you'll do what? Call the family and turn me in?! No-fucking-way!" he yelled back, holding the crumpled paper above his head and out of her reach. She tried standing to get it but lost her balance and came toppling over top of him, now lying confused on top of his chest as he still held the paper above his head in one hand. His other arm was wrapped around her waist from when he'd tried to help her keep her balance before she fell. He quickly removed his arm and stared down at her, yelling "Get off!"

Tohru looked into his eyes and found the chance to get the number now, reaching her arms above his head; though she was still short. Not thinking about the move, she inched her way forward - still on top of him - and grabbed his fist. Her chest was in his face as he turned a light shade of red, and luckily she didn't see as she was falling on her side next to him, her two hands fighting with his for the phone number. "Please give it back!" she pleaded again, holding his wiggling arm with one hand and trying to pry his fingers open with the other.

"I told you, no! I'm not going back!"

"I just want the phone number, I won't call or make you go back!" she insisted, sitting up again as she sat on his arm and pried his fingers open. When she succeeded she quickly moved away from him, holding it tightly up to her chest as if it were a treasure.

He grunted as he sat up, sitting with his arms crossed. "Why do you want it so badly if you're not turning me in?" he spat, glaring at her.

"I... uh... wanted to ask you..." she began, crawling closer to him on her hands and knees, then sitting up again and holding the paper between their faces. "What does that symbol mean, Kyou-san?" she asked as a child would, her voice high and strangely innocent. He kept silent and she lowered the paper and looked into his eyes, questioning him. "Is it something bad?"

He slowly nodded, then turned his head away. "It depends on how you look at it..." He saw her turn the paper this way and that and almost laughed at the motion. "No, I mean it has more than one meaning." They were sitting in the hallway, and she shivered on the hardwood floors of the unheated house. He got up and offered her a hand, which she took and they walked back into the living room. He waited as she sat down next to him and she covered herself up, surprising him when she stretched the cover over him too.

"Explain it, please, Kyou-san?" she asked, her lids drooping slightly.

"It basically represents our family," he said lowly, not really caring if she heard or not because he was testing his memory. He gently took the paper from her hand, assuring her that she'd get it back, and turned on the lamp beside the couch. She seemed more alive now, sitting straighter and moving closer to him to see the symbol.

"The lines represent each of the animals of the zodiac..." he paused, trying to remember the extra two. "There are twelve here, counting for the animals, the cat, and god." He glanced sideways at her and saw her counting the lines, and after assuring him that she understood, he continued. His finger ran its' way from the top of one of the lines to the very center of the symbol, where a single dot was placed that connected each of the lines.

"That dot represents someone too - the person who will break the curse. It's said that there is only one person like that, which is why they have yet to be found. The person that can break the curse is hard to find in another way too, because when they arrive before the Sohma family, they appear as some normal person." He pulled his fingers to the bridge of his nose in thought and then continued. "They hold our family together, even though in the end they'll tear us apart - in a good way though... It's... really hard to explain."

The two stayed silent for a moment. Tohru then asked "Why are the circles there then?"

"Oh. Those just represent the many bonds to the family that we have." He smirked darkly at that. "There are a hell lot more than that though."

"I'm confused, Kyou-san." she whined lightly, gently taking the number from his hand and placing it on the coffee table. "How is it that you turn into animals?"

"Well, we're all incarnates of the animals. We each carry the soul of the animal in our bodies with us."

"But why? Why the Sohma family?"

"Because, they were all betrayed." he replied darkly, the whole scene replaying in his head as he spoke; an old memory that the spirits each had.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

_God and the animals sat merrily at the table, their annual banquet carrying on. The rat sat closest to god, who was at the end of the table. Next to him were the dog, the snake, the ram, the tiger, and the boar. Across from the rat, on the other side of God, were the rooster, the dragon, the monkey, the ox, the rabbit, and the horse. The cat could no longer attend the banquet because he'd missed last years, so at the other end of the table was an empty seat._

_God's deep voice sounded and all others hushed as the animals listened intently to him. He stood, his entire form silhouetted. "I'd like to thank each of you for coming." he said, raising a glass. "I'd also like to say-"_

_He was cut off by a loud bang sounding from behind him, and as all of the animals turned around; the cat ran straight up to God, scratching him in the face. He leaped back, gasps resounding throughout the room as he stared at the former zodiac animal, paying no attention to the animals._

"_WHAT is the purpose of this, cat?!" God demanded, a thick red dripping from his shadowed form. "How dare you attack me, your god?" He yelled, squeezing the glass in his hand and making it shatter. The zodiac animals were the only ones who could hurt god - no one else._

_The cat didn't speak as he attacked again, missing the mighty man and falling onto the table and breaking everything in his way. It disappeared beneath him, as did everything else in the room as it turned to white. All of the animals went into a panic and tried running out of the way, only to be caught in a cage that God had summoned._

"_You!" he said, pointing to the cat standing before him. "You've lied to me and betrayed me! Why did you do so?" The cat didn't respond, and God yelled "Speak!" scaring the cat, who tried running away._

_God grabbed him in his hand, and held him up to his face. "Are all of you like this cat?" he ordered, looking to the locked up animals with anger. "It seems that you can't be trusted." he said, dropping the cat to the floor. He turned to the other animals, holding up his hands, causing the cage to disappear before him. The animals cowered before him as he spoke. "It seems that I cannot trust you any longer," he said, a pained sound in his voice. "You can no longer stay here with me." and with that, he lifted his hand, sending each animal falling through the clouds of heaven, leaving only the confused cat with him._

"_You are the main one, cat." he said, walking over to him. "You've opened my eyes to the betrayal of animals, but you cannot return to earth quite yet, for you have attacked me." Before the cat could do or say anything in return, he was sent falling through the clouds, though his destiny was set for a different place than the others._

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

"It's said that the cat had been planning the downfall of God for a long time, and, sensing it, God vowed to send each of the animals away if the cat proved a threat... No one knows where the cat was sent, but what we do know is that not all of the animals fell to earth at once; they each fell a year apart, signaling the years that they were designated to. The first animal that fell, the rat, was left alone for an entire year before she was rejoined by her friends.

"Because the rat was in a humans' body, she had the desires and intentions of a human, and had a husband and kids. Each of her eleven children were born a year apart, granted with a soul of an animal, which is why we are all part of the Sohma family.

"Then, two years after their last child was born, they had another one. That child was born three months early, very weak, hardly living. The child made it though, but was smaller and very different from each of the children - it was the cat. It was hated by all of them; even their mother and father. It was secluded and ignored, having no friends, and it's been that way since."

Tohru thought of this for a bit and then thought of Kyou who was now the cat. Pain and understanding filled her eyes as she gently held his hand, staring into his surprised eyes. "I'll be your friend... Kyou-kun." she said, hardly loud enough for him to hear. He heard though, and his eyes widened.

"You... don't know what you're saying. No one wants to befriend a cat... no one. I'm a monster."

"You can't say that, Kyou-kun." she insisted, smiling. "You're not a monster, and you never were! Even if the cat _did_ betray god, _you're_ still not a monster. You're still Kyou-kun; my friend, Kyou-kun."

He pulled his arm away from her, looking out the window. "I'm no ones friend, Tohru," he muttered, then walked over to the chair and soon fell asleep.

"Kyou-kun..." she muttered, though he didn't stir. She looked at him with worried eyes, wrapping herself against the cold house and dying fire. She got up and searched for the warmest cover she could find for him, and when she returned to the living room, draped it atop of him as gently as she could; afraid of awakening him. She smiled, walked back to the couch, and fell into a restless sleep.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kyou awoke slightly dizzy, opening his eyes to and upside-down house. The boy seemed to have his head draped across the arm rest, resulting in his hanging upside down. His feet were hanging off the other armrest, and his arms were sprawled out. He sat up too quickly, making him dizzier as he held his head. A cover fell off of his body and he watched it lie on the ground with bewilderment, figuring Tohru had covered him in the middle of the night. He rolled his eyes at the girl, knowing that she still considered herself a friend. _'A friend of the past...'_ He thought absently, surprising himself. The past? What did that mean; he'd never known her before. How could she be a friend of the past if they'd never met?

"Kyou-kun, is that you?" she asked from the kitchen, and he had just smelled the breakfast that she was cooking.

"Yeah," he replied absently as he stood, walking into the kitchen, then yelled "I'm not your friend!" Her eyes suddenly became sad and wide, and her lip poked out as she stared at him. Grief suddenly overpowered him and he spoke without thinking again. "I mean, I'm..." he caught himself, slapping himself in the head. Now he was deeper in than he thought he'd be. He fell to the table, grumbling something as the girl stared at him.

"It's okay, Kyou... san." she caught herself with a frown, then smiled again. "We only recently met, I understand." She walked over to the pan and stove the contents out with a spatula, placing them on a plate and getting strawberries and milk out of the fridge.

"What is this?" he asked as she sat a plate in front of him.

"Pancakes!" she replied merrily, pouring a glass of milk for him and cutting the strawberries up on a plate. "Have you ever had pancakes, Kyou-san?"

"No," he replied simply, staring at the plate in disgust. He wasn't up for trying new things.

"They're really good, Kyou-san!" she replied, setting the plate of strawberries in the middle of the table, along with her plate of breakfast. "Just try them!"

"How early did you get up this morning?" he asked, ignoring what she'd said.

"Oh... I don't know. I normally get up early. Actually, I'm surprised _you_ got up so early, Kyou-san. It's only seven thirty."

"I get up pretty early too." he muttered, sticking a fork and knife into the food. He should at least try it. Tohru was too busy pouring strawberries on top of hers to even notice the distaste in his face as he cut it, ready to put it into his mouth. It smelled decent... how bad could it be?

Tohru looked up and saw him half-smiling. "You like it?" she asked, happiness filling her face.

"Yeah," he replied, chewing. "It's pretty good." She smiled contently and continued eating.

"Oh, and Kyou-san?" she asked about half-way through the meal.

"What?"

"I'm going into town soon for groceries. I was wondering what you liked...?"

"Oh... uh..." He honestly didn't know. He just threw down whatever he was given or starved. There was no rejecting the heads' orders, no matter how trivial. "I don't know," he finally replied, looking down at his plate.

"You have to like something, Kyou-san!" she insisted, sitting forward. "It doesn't matter what it is; anything." He just shook his head. "Well, tell me what you _don't_ like!" she said, smiling brightly.

He gave her a strange look and replied "Leeks." He thought a bit more but couldn't think of much else - he was never told what he ate. "I... can't think of anything."

Tohru frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose I can work with what you ate when you were a cat... right?" He nodded, and she smiled. After another small silence, she asked. "Oh, what size clothes do you wear? I'm getting you clothes too."

"You're not getting me clothes!" he insisted, standing up.

"But Kyou-san, I'll feel bad if I don't!" she said, standing up too. She'd finished and was cleaning off the table. As she gathered all of the plates, she yelled from the kitchen. "You can't walk around in what you're wearing! Besides, you don't have shoes!" He looked down at his feet and wiggled his bear toes. He didn't see her return from the kitchen. "Besides, if you don't tell me I'll just guess!" she said playfully, smiling.

"Good luck guessing then," he muttered, walking from the room. She sighed, turned to the counter, and made a list.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kyou sighed, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door. That girl was so persistent, and for some reason, he just couldn't say no to her. That annoyed the hell out of him. She'd been gone for a while and suggested his taking a shower, which he wouldn't even try to disagree to - he needed one. He took off his shirt and bandages and stared into the mirror, finding the remains of the large wound on his front. It was already almost gone.

Turning on the water for the shower, he fully undressed and stepped in.

'_Stupid girl...'_ he thought to himself, letting the warm water flood his back wound. _'She has no idea of who I am and she's accepting me like a best friend or something... stupid. What kind of person does that? No one's that trusting... no one!'_ And image of her bright smile flashed in his head and a growled, chasing it away. _'It's like I'm supposed to accept her... like my mind has some plan for her or something...'_

He began thinking of last night, when he'd told her the story of the zodiac. _'She was so interested in my family... I wonder why? Any normal person would completely seclude us... maybe even turn me into the cops or something; thinking that I was insane.'_

"_I'll be your friend... Kyou-kun."_

That phrase ran through his head as he finished the shower, turning the water off with a "tch" and drying himself off.

He heard her in the kitchen, yelling "Kyou-san! I'm back! I have your clothes too!"

'_Stupid girl...'_ he thought again, walking out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. She was in the kitchen, placing the groceries in the cabinets. He tried getting the clothes out of the bag without her realizing it, but she turned around and blushed, turning back to the cabinets with her hands over her eyes. Apparently she didn't know he had a towel on.

"I'm so sorry, Kyou-san! I didn't know you were there and-"

"Shut up!" he snapped, regretting it as soon as he'd said it. Her back had stiffened and she whimpered at his outburst. "I mean... it's... okay. I'm... in a towel, so it's okay."

"Oh... I'm... sorry." she muttered, turning back around. Her eyes were glassy and he sighed.

"Look, I said it's okay; no harm done. Don't cry, alright?"

"Okay..." she said, looking the same. He looked down at the clothes in his hands and sighed.

"I, um... like these. I think they'll fit too." He turned around and walked out, embarrassed. "Thanks," he muttered, just loud enough to hear, before walking out of the kitchen to change.

"Oh! You're welcome, Kyou-san!" she yelled cheerfully, not seeing the slight smile on his lips as he walked back into the restroom. It was no great accomplishment, but that was the first time he'd willingly and honestly thanked someone.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Crap! Sorry, guys. T.T I accidentally cut some of the animals out of the zodiac in Kyou's description. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, and they're all back.

I'm going out of town again on Friday so expect an update on Monday or so.


	8. Acceptance

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

_**Parts with a break like this:**__ -x-x-x-x-x-x-__** are flashbacks, daydreams, ect.**_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 7:

Acceptance

"Tohru?" Kyou asked, gaining attention over the television screen.

She turned the television off, much to his displeasure. Now all of her attention was on him, and that made him nervous. "Yes, Kyou-san?"

"Why do you..." he began, scratching the back of his head. She moved closer at his low tone, now sitting right next to him on the couch. He sighed, looking away. "Why... do you accept me? Why don't you just throw me out or call the police or something? It's not like... like you're _inclined_ to let me stay. I'm... a stranger." he struggled with his words, hoping he didn't have to repeat them. He wanted to know though.

"Kyou-san..." she said, thinking about the question. Then she looked up at him and smiled brightly. "I can't just turn you away. Obviously something is happening with your family and you don't want to go back... so I have to let you stay for a little while; until you want to go back."

"I'll never go back. As soon as you leave, I'm off on my own." Her eyes widened.

"You can't go off on your own! If worse comes to worse, you can live with an adoptive family..."

"Like I'd ever live with some weird ass family," he muttered, crossing his arms.

"I won't let you do that, Kyou-san; even if you don't like me. I can't let you get hurt; then it'd be _my_ fault." She looked away, muttering. "And plus I want your company. I would be scared... all alone... if you weren't here."

"But I'm a stranger. For all you know, I could be a pedophile or something." She scooted away at that, obviously not thinking of the possibilities. He smirked, deciding to toy with her. "Or a serial killer..." She scooted away even more, and he turned to her and rested on his hands, closing the gap between them. "Or some maniac," she scooted back even more but he kept right next to her. "Or an alien running from the government!" he yelled, causing her to jump and fall off the couch.

"Don't hurt me, Alien-sama!" she pleaded, holding her hands between them. He started laughing at her expense and she slowly lowered her arms, staring up at him with frightened eyes.

"Tohru, you scare way too easily." he said, recovering himself. He offered her and hand, but she shook her head. He frowned. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you or anything. I was just joking. Besides, I'd do it already if I would." He offered her his hand again and she took it with reluctance.

When she was sitting on the couch next to him, she held his hand a bit longer, staring into his eyes as a strange scene ran through her mind.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

"_Kyou-kun!" a child called, running up to a little boy with red hair and crimson eyes - like the boy she'd known. She was seeing through the girl's eyes, an outstretched hand reaching for the boy. "I missed you, Kyou-kun!" the child said, hugging the boy as he hugged back._

"_I missed you, too!" he said, taking her hand and guiding her away from the room. The girl looked back and waved good-bye to a woman, and as she came into view, she looked like Tohru's mother. The girl turned back to face Kyou._

"_What are we doing today, Kyou-kun?" the girl asked._

_He looked over his shoulder and replied "We're playing like we always do."_

_The child looked around, and saw another little boy staring after them. The girl quickly grabbed his hand, and he smiled, his silver hair shadowing his eyes, though she could tell he was happy. She looked back to the redhead, who glared at the boy and smiled at the girl, leading them away._

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

Tohru snapped out of her thoughts, letting go of his hand, but still staying in that spot. "Kyou-san..." she said, looking up to his equally puzzled face.

"Yeah?"

"Did I... ever know you?" she asked, confused if she ever did; equally confused if she didn't.

"No... I don't think so..." he muttered, wondering the same thing. The same thing ran through his mind, through the eyes of the redhead. The little girl looked exactly like a younger Tohru.

"Oh..." she muttered, backing up and looking away. After a long awkward silence, she turned the television back on and they watched it for the rest of the night, the silence dragging on. The two had fallen asleep on opposite ends of the couch.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kyou was the first to rise that morning around six forty. He sat up, dazed. He'd had a dream about a strange girl last night; the same one from that daydream that he supposed he'd shared with Tohru. He stared outside the window at the rising sun as he thought about it.

­_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

"_I don't like him," a boy had said. Kyou was seeing through the eyes of this boy. He could tell from the boy's tone that he wasn't happy in the least, like there was some pent-up anger in his stomach. He felt it rising._

"_Why?" a girl in brown pigtails asked, her earthy eyes staring curiously and sadly at him._

"_I just don't, okay?" he yelled, standing up. The girl fell back a bit._

"_Why won't you tell me? Did I do something wrong?"_

"_No! If you did something wrong then I'd be mad at you, not him."_

_The girl stood up, looking sadder now. "But... wh-"_

"_Because he's taking you away from me!" the boy shot, and then ran away._

­_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

Kyou massaged the bridge of his nose, wondering why the dream was so vivid. The only vivid dreams he ever had were horrific memories. He stood up and stretched, yawning quietly as to not wake Tohru. He looked over to her and found her shivering, rolling his eyes at her carelessness and covering her up. _'She can be such a ditz sometimes...'_ he thought, trying to keep the dream from his mind.

He took a black t-shirt and pair of khakis, deciding to take a shower before she woke up. He actually _did_ like these clothes she'd gotten him, and they fit, which really surprised him. He figured that she'd get him something five sizes too big or something. _'I'm going to have to repay her somehow.'_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Hey," a voice called from behind her, startling her into dropping the frying pan onto the floor, nearly hitting her foot. She screamed and he ran up to her. "Tohru, are you okay?" he asked, holding her arm and looking down at her foot.

"I... I'm fine, Kyou-san." she said, her heartbeat still racing from the shock. "You scared me. That's all."

He sighed, relieved, and moved away. "It seems I do a lot of that," he muttered.

Tohru laughed unsteadily, picking up the frying pan and setting it on the counter. "I'm just easily scared, Kyou-san!"

"I can tell." he said, remembering her easy scares the night that they'd watched a scary movie. "What were you planning on making?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Oh!" she turned her head back to the frying pan, a blank look on her face. "I... uh... don't remember... I knew before you came in here, though..." she said, turning back to him and grinning, embarrassed.

"Stupid," he muttered, gaining a hurt look from the girl before gently putting his knuckle to her temple. "You remind me of a cousin of mine." he muttered, not really thinking.

She smiled, realizing that he was joking. "Oh, who, Kyou-san?" she asked, stepping away and to the fridge to look for something to eat. "Are they a member of the cursed zodiac?"

"Yeah," he muttered, watching her. "Can we have pancakes again?" he asked, almost smiling.

She shut the fridge door and smiled. "Sure! But can you tell me of who I remind you of?" she asked in an innocent voice, looking up to him with curious eyes.

"Well, you actually remind me of two people; the ox and the tiger."

"Oh... so I'm stubborn and scary?" she asked, and he chuckled.

"No, that's actually not true in the least for them. One's kind of air-headed and the other is innocent." Descriptions ran through his mind of the two. _'The ox... always helping everyone yet staying unnoticed. He always gets lost... Then there's the tiger, who's sweet and really caring, but like the ox, stays unnoticed.'_ He broke from the silent descriptions and turned to the girl. "Do you want any help?" he asked, thinking that it would at least begin the repayment.

"Sure Kyou-san!" she sang, moving over to allow him space next to her in front of the stove.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kyou yawned lazily as he lay outside on the deck with Tohru, who was talking with her mother.

"Are you sure you're alright, Tohru-chan?" she asked, her voice hiding no concern.

"I'm fine, mom!" she insisted, smiling. Her legs were draped over the side of the deck as she kicked them back and forth.

"And the cat? Have you found the owners?"

"... No." she hated lying to her mother; _really_ hated it, but someone was in need now. She couldn't just leave Kyou to die on the streets. "Not yet."

"You're not staying any longer than you already are," her mother warned.

"I know. I'm going home in two weeks."

"Alright," Her mother paused on the other end. "Well, Tohru-chan, I have to go. I'll see you later, all right?"

"Okay, bye mom. I love you!" she called, smiling.

"I love you too; be careful."

"I will." she said, and hung up the phone, looking to Kyou with sad eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked, rolling onto his stomach and looking up at her.

"I just hate lying to mom," she muttered, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them. "It's really hard for me..."

"Yeah... I guess it would be." he replied, sitting up and looking toward the lake. "You don't have to stay here, you know." he muttered.

"I want to, Kyou-san. I just... I don't know. I feel really badly about all of this."

"If you feel badly then you need to go home; I won't be held accountable for kidnapping or something." Tohru laughed at that, though it was not meant to be funny.

"Yeah, and then Uo-san would beat you up."

"I doubt that." he insisted, smiling. "No Yankee's gonna beat me up any day soon."

"Uo-san can!" Tohru said, looking over to him and smiling. His eyes slid over to her. "She can beat up anyone; probably even mom!" Tohru gave that a bit of thought and shook her head. "No... Probably not mom; but she can beat up anyone else!"

"So you're saying that your mom would beat up your best friend?" he asked, raising a questioning eyebrow with a serious face.

"Oh! No, she'd never do that to Uo-san!" she yelled, nervous at his question.

Kyou's face broke into a slight smile and he looked at her warmly. "I'm just joking. By the looks of it, your mother would never beat anyone up."

"That's not true either," Tohru said, grinning. "Mom used to be part of a gang! So did Uo-san!"

"Are you serious?" he asked, eyes wide with sudden worry. "Did they ever hurt you?"

Tohru smiled and waved his fears off. "No, mom quit her gang before I was even born and saved Uo from hers. I met Uo at school before and brought her home with me, and things smoothed out from there."

"Oh," he said, his shoulders that he hadn't realized were raised dropping.

She smiled. "Mom would never hurt me; neither would Uo."

After a small pause, Kyou asked "So she really was in a gang?"

"Yep! She was notoriously known as the _Red Butterfly_."

"Notorious, huh? She sure doesn't act like it."

"Yeah... dad saved her from that life, and she was never the same again... at least, from what I've been told." She smiled, remembering their previous discussion. "Hana-san could beat you up too!"

"Yeah right," he insisted, and she laughed again.

"She's protective too; and she can zap you with her electric waves!"

"So you're saying that a Yankee, a former gang member, and a psychic are going to come over here and beat the shit out of me because you decided to stay?" he asked rhetorically.

"Yep; that's pretty much it!" she piped, grinning from ear to ear. He sat up and rested his cheek on his fist, his elbow on his knee.

"Maybe you _should_ go home then," he muttered in a faux worried voice.

Tohru began laughing hard and he smiled, watching her. Once she collected herself, they sat in content silence for a bit until she called him. "Kyou-san?"

"Yeah?" he asked, looking over.

She leaned over and hugged him, smiling. "Thank you." she said, sitting back in her spot.

"W-why?" he asked, baffled by the sudden affection.

"For being my friend," She looked away and blushed a shade of pink, for fear of sounding stupid. "You may not want to be my friend... and you may not like me... but you really are a good friend, Kyou-san. I'm happy that I got to meet you."

At a loss for words, he just stared at her. How was it that a person could be so kind and innocent? He just didn't get it. _'In a world today... even with the seclusion of the Sohma family... it's nearly impossible to find someone __**that**__ kind.'_ Finally, he smiled. "You can be a better friend than me," he said honestly. "I did what; make you laugh? I wasn't even trying, Tohru."

"But you still did, Kyou-san! I feel better now that I've laughed. You say you're a monster but you're much better than that." She stood up and stretched her arms and legs. "At any rate though - and I'm sure you don't care - I consider you a friend."

He smiled, standing up as well. "I... guess I consider you one, too." he muttered, acting as if it didn't matter one way or another; but it did. It felt good, even if she didn't know about him, to have someone _actually_ care about him. He'd never had someone like that before.

"I'm glad," she said, hugging his arm again. "What do you want for lunch?"

"Doesn't matter." he muttered, walking into the house with a hidden smile on his lips. She grinned and followed after him.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Kyou-kun?" Tohru asked after cleaning the dishes with his help.

"Yeah?"

"Could you tell me about your mother? You never mention her and say that no one accepted you... but she had to, right?"

He didn't respond. He couldn't. Instead, he dried the last of the dishes in silence and walked out of the front door. Tohru merely watched after with wide eyes.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Paha! Moody, moody little Kyou. XD Thanks for the wonderful reviews, guys. I'll update soon!


	9. The Storm

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket

_**Parts with breaks like this:**__ -x-x-x-x-x-x-__** are flashbacks, daydreams, ect.**_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 8:

The Storm

Tohru stood motionless in the kitchen as she allowed the scene to play through her mind before realizing what happened. She dropped the towel to the floor, rushing after the boy. _'Did I offend him?'_ she wondered, looking around the empty yard. _'Does Kyou-kun hate me? What will I do! I'm all alone!'_ She stepped outside and looked into the forest, seeing no orange hair. _'He walked... he couldn't have gotten far. I'll just... apologize. That's it! I have to apologize!'_ She walked around the house, calling his name; and after doing so about three or four times, the girl decided to venture into the forest for him.

The boy on the roof rolled his eyes as the girl walked nearer to the forest, and he called down to her. "Oi!" he hollered, catching her attention. "Stop panicking, I'm up here." He saw her happy grin from even that distance, and saw her walking toward him.

"How'd you get up there, Kyou-kun?" she asked, still smiling. The wind tousled his hair and he smirked, jumping down. Tohru jostled back, falling to the ground.

Kyou rolled his eyes and gave her a hand up. "I'm a cat; remember?"

"Oh... and you like high places?"

He shrugged. "I guess... but I like to be alone too. So leave me alone!" With that, he climbed back onto the roof.

"Oh... okay, Kyou-kun." she said, her voice low. As she was walking back into the house, she yelled up "I'm sorry!"

"Whatever," he muttered back, not loud enough for her to hear.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru heard thunder in the distance and jumped, strangely shivering. She hadn't seen Kyou since he went up to the roof and it was already almost dinner time. She decided to ignore the fear, and continue cleaning the restroom. The plan worked for all of two minutes too, that is, until the thunder struck her ears again, closer and louder. She yelped and dropped the half-full bucket onto the floor, jumping back to avoid getting her feet wet. "Oh no," she muttered, hurrying to try and clean the mess up.

As she was cleaning up, the storm sounded outside, and water dripped slowly to the floor from above her head. She looked up and found nothing above her, then felt the drops on her cheeks, snaking their way down. She was crying. She pulled her wrists to her eyes and wiped the tears away, but they kept coming.

"Why am I crying?" she wondered aloud, falling against the wall and hopelessly wiping her eyes. "Am I scared...? I've..." she sniffed, raising her head to look to the ceiling. "I've never been afraid of thunderstorms before..." She sighed, pulling her knees to her chest as the loudest clap of thunder sounded, making her whimper in a ball on the floor. The rain fell and she began to cry... all alone.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kyou grumbled something unintelligible as he opened the door, and it was just then that the rain decided to pour. He groaned as he shut the door behind him, looking around the house for the girl that could hopefully lift his spirits. He looked around the living room and found nothing except clean space; the same applying for the kitchen and even her room. Beginning to worry, he called out to her, searching the other rooms. "Tohru, where are you?" he asked, walking to the end of the hall and toward the bathroom.

He heard quiet crying behind the closed door.

Stepping quietly toward the door, he put his ear to it and listened as the girl continued crying. Finally, he called out to her. "Tohru, is that you? Why are you crying?" The sounds briefly stopped, and there was shuffling inside before everything fell quiet, and the door slowly opened.

"Kyou-kun?" He couldn't see her face, but he knew that she wasn't smiling.

"What's wrong?" he asked, trying to open the door further, but she only held it back, her back pressed to it as she stared at the ground. All that was heard was the rain pounding away outside. He tried pushing the door again but she kept her back against it. The boy sighed, resting his head against the partially opened door. "Why were you crying?"

"I'm okay, Kyou-kun." she said, but he wasn't having it.

"I'm coming in whether you like it or not, Tohru." He warned, gritting his teeth.

"I'm okay, really Kyou-kun." It was just then that another clap of thunder sounded, and she whimpered, falling to the floor and holding her head, allowing him easy entrance.

The boy pushed the door open, moving her partially across the floor as she lay in the fetal position. Seeing her there, he dropped to the ground and grabbed her shoulders. "What happened?" he asked, shaking her slightly. She only shook her head, and he shook her harder. "Tell me! I can't help if you don't tell me!" As if playing off of his worry, the thunder sounded again and she yelped, falling into his chest and clutching tightly to his shirt.

"I'm scared!" she yelled, crying into his shirt. "I... I'm scared of the storm..." she whimpered, and he only sat there with his arms apart, staring down at the girl in shock.

"It... It's okay," he said, slowly wrapping his arms around her as she shook with sobs. "You're not... going to get hurt... you're okay." He held her more tightly as he asked "Why are you so afraid? You... weren't like this before."

"I don't know, Kyou-kun... it just suddenly... came. I don't know! I... I can't control it! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Kyou-kun!"

"Shh..." he muttered into her hair, rubbing her back to soothe her. "Just calm down, you're all right." She shook her head against his chest, but her words were silent. He slowly picked her up, cradling her in his arms like a child, and walked her to her room. "You need to rest, it'll be okay tomorrow."

"But... you need dinner." she muttered as he walked with her in his arms, not bothering to turn on the light of her room.

"I'll be fine, just go to sleep. I can't have you in hysterics all night." He laid her onto her bed, slowly pulling the covers up to her chin. Her eyes were closed tightly and tears carved ways down her cheeks. He wiped them away with his thumb and turned away.

"No!" she yelled suddenly, grabbing his sleeve with both hands. "Please, Kyou-kun... Don't leave. I'm... still scared." Her hands held tightly to his wrist, and wrapped around the bracelet.

"No, don't!" he yelled, grabbing tightly onto her hands with his free one, stopping all motions. His eyes were narrowed and he gritted his teeth, clutching onto her tiny hands.

"Kyou... kun... you're hurting... me." she whimpered, letting go of the bracelet and trying to wiggle her hands free.

"Tohru," he said, his voice low and angry, scaring her. "You must promise me to _never_ remove this bracelet... _never_ touch it again... Do you understand?" he ordered, clutching her hands tighter.

"Y-yes! I... I understand, Kyou-kun... but please, let go!"

As he released her hands, his eyes returned to normal, and he sighed. "… Okay... if you want, I'll stay." he muttered, looking down at her scared, glassy eyes; her slightly scared but relieved smile. "Just please, stop crying."

"I don't mind it so much now, Kyou-kun," she said weakly, smiling at him. Suddenly, something came to him.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

"_Kyou-kun... I'm so happy!" the brunette girl sang, clinging to a boys arm._

"_Why? It's nothing big," the boy said, though he patted her head with contentment._

"_We can be together now! I've always wanted this, Kyou-kun! Now we can be together all the time!" She now turned her face toward him, and he saw tears streaking down her cheeks, though her smile remained gleeful._

"_Why... are you crying then?" the boy asked, but the girl only grinned more._

"_They said that if I told you, they'd take you away from me, Kyou-kun. So I won't tell you!" she paused, turning her head back away as she grabbed his hand, running off with him. "As long as we're together, I don't mind crying!" she yelled, holding even more tightly to his hand._

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

The boy looked down to his hand in the darkness, feeling the warmth of the non-existent girl. He looked toward Tohru, who was now sleeping, though her tears still fell. _'Tohru... what have I done to you?'_ he asked himself, frowning sadly. He stood up, heading for the door, but he felt a strange pull inside of him, telling him to stay. _'What... what have you done to __**me**__?'_

He sighed, walking back to the bed, and he sat at her side on his knees. He stared at her and brushed her tears away one last time, then gently took her hand. He held it in his own, slowly rubbing her knuckles as he stared down in a puzzled type of tranquility. He sat with his back to the bedside table, her hand hanging off the bed and resting inside his own. Smiling unconsciously, he felt his lids drop closed.

He fell asleep like that.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

_A boy sat alone in a plain traditional room, tugging a toy train along the floor. Those were the only sounds being made; the small wheels of a small train against the ground. His face was not that of a playful child; not holding joy or even contentment. There was no emotion at all, and, if given a better look at, one could say that his eyes appeared sad as he watched his hand pull along the toy._

"_Kyou-san," a woman's voice called, and he glared icily at her. He didn't speak though; he only glared. The old woman smiled at him, stepping in with her hands behind her back. "I have a surprise for you, Kyou-san. Do you want a surprise?" The boy only continually glared at her, but her smile never wavered. It was a well practiced act for the both of them._

_She looked behind her and whispered something to whatever it was, and then looked back at the boy. He saw a tiny hand pull at the woman's dress, and a small set of eyes peek to the boy, quickly returning to their position. The boy let go of the train, moving to his left to see whatever it was behind the woman. Then, the woman whispered one last thing to the child behind her, looked back at the boy, and moved out of the way._

_There, a little girl stood. She had short chestnut hair that was held in pigtails, and dark brown eyes that shown with curiosity and a hint of fear and apprehension. Her fingers were brought up to her lips in a defensive position as she stared at him, her mouth slightly open. Her other hand was hidden behind her back. She wore a light pink dress that went down to her knees with a long sleeve white shirt under it, and her socked feet were tilted inward, making her look vulnerable._

_After a small staring contest between the two, the girl slowly let her hand drop to her side, tilted her head, and grinned. "Hi!" she said joyfully, pulling her hand from behind her back and offering the boy a package wrapped in pale yellow. "I'm Tohru! Mommy says that I'm going to be your friend, so I wanted to bring you a present!"_

_The boy watched her carefully, then turned his nose up to the girl and crossed his arms, shutting his eyes stubbornly. The old woman still stood at the door, and she whispered to a hidden figure "I knew she wouldn't be any different; he does this to everyone... He's a monster, just like they say. A monster," The boy crept one eye open, staring at the woman in anger. Before he could retort though, the girl turned around, her eyes glassy._

"_Kyou-kun is not a monster!" she said, her voice broken and weak. "Kyou-kun is my friend, and I know he's not a monster." She turned back to the boy, smiling sadly. "Right, Kyou-kun?"_

_His position dropped and he stood, staring at her, now being the one with a blank and confused expression. Suddenly, he broke into a slight, shy smile and walked up to her, taking the gift from her hand. "Right," he said, and she grinned widely as he opened the gift. The children didn't notice the gasps, chatter, and puzzled looks coming from the group standing at the door; they just played with his train and new toy car._

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

"_Kyou-kun..." she begged, looking up at him with sad eyes. He only turned away, tears welling in both sets of the innocent eight-year-old eyes. "Kyou-kun, why are you so sad?" she asked, her voice cracking once in a while as more tears fell. "I... I want you to trust me, Kyou-kun. Don't you trust me?" He looked at her, crying now, and nodded his head. "Then tell me," she responded, holding his hand. "Please...?"_

"_They're mean..." he muttered, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "They're all mean to me... they all say that __**I**__ killed her... that... that it's all my... my... fault." he said through his tears, looking behind his shoulder to the numerous Sohmas walking through the hallway, ignoring the crying children. "They... they don't care about me... you two are the only ones. They hate me!" he looked to the ground, clenching his fist, muttering "I deserve it though… I'm a monster!"_

"_Stop it!" she pleaded, gripping his arm tightly as she cried into his sleeve. "Please... just... stop it." She looked up at him, smiling weakly through tears. "Stop saying that. You're not... you're... not a monster. You know that. I know that... and I'll never forget, Kyou-kun."_

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

"_I'm sorry," she said, her bangs covering her tear-filled eyes that clung to the wooden floorboards of her room. She balled her fists at her sides and sat on the ground, holding tightly to her knees as she cried into them. "I'm sorry, Kyou-kun... but... but..." Her voice broke in the sobs and he only stared in disbelief at her, his eyes shaking in fear and anger._

"_Why?" he asked, backing away, but only to be caught by a pair of small hands, pulling him closer to the legs of the being. "Why? Why do you hate me?! I thought we were friends! I thought... I thought..."_

"_Shut... up!" the girl ordered through a soft voice, though the rare words that fell from her lips still stung all the same. "I... you're... they're right! I... can't stand it! I'm... always sad! I'm so sad! You... you make me sad!" She then looked up at him; her face blotched from excessive crying. "Kyou-kun..."_

"_You only hurt her," a voice cooed from outside the room, though no one bothered to look at the spectator. "See? Even your best friend thinks you're a monster. No one loves you; they never have. That false love was just pity, and that's just what you are: pitiful." Their lips were all you could see, but they told you enough. The jerk upward at the corners told a sadistic tale, one that only brought the insanity that could plainly be heard in their words. The smile they held against the pain of others allowed entrance into the web of lies that they spun and looked back on with joy. "You should have never been allowed outside of my vision; now I have to go through the trouble of this broken girl and her broken mother." The smile broadened and the teeth of the being shown, a chuckle escaping their mouth._

_The hands on the boy tightened and tear drops fell onto his head. "We can't keep you," the woman said, turning to the being in the doorway and lightly pushing the boy away. "We don't want you living with us any longer." A deranged smile played on her lips. "We can't stand any more of this."_

"_From the horse's mouth," the person said, pulling the boy closer to them as the woman had done. The girl ran to her mother's side and clutched to her dress, crying into the fabric. "You're lucky I came, Monster. They would have died the same way your mother did. At least these people can forget you."_

"_No!" the boy yelled, trying to break from the grip of the frail hands on his shoulders, but they proved stronger than expected. "Tohru, this isn't true! Tell the truth! Tell them that... that..."_

"_No," the girl whimpered, rubbing her eyes still on the dress as her mother ruffled her hair. "I'm sorry... but... no."_

"_No? No!? Is that all? Just 'no'?" He gritted his teeth and glared at the girl. "After... so long... you say 'no'! How could you do that! You call __**me**__ a monster... but you're worse! You... you..." He was jerked back by the pair of hands, and pulled from the room without another word from the one holding him._

_The last words he heard from her mouth, cracked and distorted, were "I'll never forget you, Kyou-kun."_

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

"Tohru," he murmured in his sleep, angry tears piling against his closed lids. "You're... you're the... monster..." he said, sleep overtaking him again before the tears fell, and the girl sitting in front of him gasped in shock.

"Monster?"


	10. Dreaming of You

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

_**Parts with breaks like this:**__ -x-x-x-x-x-x-__** are flashbacks, daydreams, ect.**_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 9:

Dreaming of You

"Kyou-kun! Kyou-kun, please wake up!" she pleaded, shaking his shoulders. The rain from last night still poured outside, more lightly than before. A clap of thunder sent her into a ball, covering her head. She slowly looked up at the sleeping boy as her eyes became glassy and she sat up, holding his shoulders.

"Monster!" he yelled in his sleep, batting her away with his arm. She sat on her knees a few feet away from the boy, watching him as he slept fitfully, shaking his limp head as he yelled. "Damn monster!!" She yelped, holding her hands to her mouth with wide eyes. Spreading her fingers, she spoke his name.

"Kyou-kun…" She crawled closer, her heart beating quickly. She sat next to him, examining his face in the dim light of an early rainy afternoon. Her fingers brushed against his face, the boy twitching in return. Her fingers traveled across his forehead, beads of sweat clinging to her cold fingers as they reached his knitted brows. Leaning into his ear, she whispered "Kyou-kun…" her breath came quickly from fear of the storm, another clap of thunder sending her cowering closer to him. "Wake up!" she whispered frantically, looking at his flinching eyes for relief. "Please, wake up!"

"No!" he suddenly screamed, glaring angrily into her scared and glassy eyes. Reality began to sink in and he absorbed where he was, what he did… and who he was with.

"A-are you okay?" she asked worriedly, slowly crawling back toward him with quivering lips. She reached for his shoulder, leaning ever closer as she searched his eyes for whatever inner turmoil he was feeling. "Wh-"

"Don't touch me!" he screamed, just before her hand would have made contact with him. His yell was in unison with the thunder, his back straight against the dresser he was leaning against. In the same instant, she instinctively yelped and threw herself into his chest, clinging to his shirt for protection. He wrapped his arms around her upon instinct, his arms wrapped too tightly around her for either of them to remember the nightmare for this short while. They shook in each other's arms for each of their own reasons; neither being able to explain it. She cried silently, hugging herself even more closely to him and he tightened his arms around her small waist.

"A-are you… angry, Kyou-kun?" she finally asked, looking into his eyes in the dimness. He sighed, brushing his knuckles against her temple. He hugged her and sat up with her protest, turning on the light beside her bed. She stood up with him, looking up at him through her bangs in a shameful way. He contemplated this, remembering the dream he had. The emotions… they had felt so real. Everything was so accurate.

During those dreams, he was of an age where he had lost his memory. He was told that there was a terrible car accident that sent him into a coma for years. _'Could it be possible that I knew her before?'_ he asked himself, still staring down at her. He lifted her chin, staring into her eyes. "I'm not… but I want to ask you something." She merely nodded her head, a fearful look in her eyes. "Tohru, did you know me when I was a child?" he asked, feeling stupid for even thinking so. It wasn't in his nature to make such spontaneous conclusions, but since the first time he saw her, even in his un-collective conscious, he felt attached. He felt like she was something… no, _someone_ that would show him happiness. He never doubted the joy that she could bring him.

She took her time answering, and finally shook her head. "No," she muttered, looking to the floor. "Kyou-kun… may I ask _you_ something?" He nodded his head, and she sat on her bed, patting the spot next to her in contemplation. He followed her command, sitting and waiting as patiently as he could for her to say something. "What was your nightmare about?" she asked, biting her lip as she looked up at him.

"Nightmare?" he questioned, feigning cluelessness. Her unusual expression told him that she wasn't buying it. "You wouldn't want to know." he muttered.

"But I do, Kyou-kun. You… you were calling me a monster. Something bad must have happened."

"Nothing did, you're just being paranoid." He got off of her bed and walked to her door.

"Kyou-kun!" she called, the boy turning around to her. "I want to care. And I do, so why can't I help you?"

"You don't see them!" he answered, an angry tone about his voice.

"See what?" she asked, curiously walking toward him.

"Don't you dream? Don't you dream about what happened? Huh, Tohru?"

"What happened?" she asked innocently, trying hard to find the answers.

"We knew each other! We knew each other and you abandoned me."

"What? Kyou-kun, that never happened to us. It won't. Are you feeling well?" She reached for his forehead but he backed away.

"I'm fine. I've just remembered."

"Remembered _what_?" she asked desperately, reaching for his arm and holding tightly. She knew he'd try to run away. "I don't understand, Kyou-kun."

"I know you don't." he muttered, looking away. His position slackened as he calmed down. "That didn't feel like just any dream. I don't know how or why or when, but something had to have happened between us before. We knew each other." She looked contemplatively into his eyes, smiling slightly.

"That's not possible, Kyou-kun. I could never forget you."

"You said that in my dream," he muttered, walking from the room.

"Are you-"

"I'm not leaving. Just… leave me alone for a while." he muttered, retreating into the living room as she stayed where she stood. Her hands shook with confusion and fear. She didn't want Kyou to leave her; not now. And he said that they knew each other before – could he be right? She wanted desperately to know, to know how she forgot such a wonderful person. Her memories were few, but she felt close to him already. Could that be because she really did know him? She thought back to the night before, when she was scared so badly that she couldn't move; just cling to his shirt. The storm wasn't as strong now, so why did she still want to lie in his arms? Tohru sighed, falling to the floor on her knees in mental exhaustion.

The light patter of the rain made her tired, but she didn't want to go to sleep again. Instead, Tohru got off of the floor and tried to keep herself busy. _'Kyou-kun told me to leave him alone… should I ask him if he wants lunch anyway?'_ she thought, peeking around the corner to the boy on the couch. The television was on, but she could tell that his eyes were blindly staring at it. _'I guess I'll leave him alone. I've bothered him enough today.'_ Her heard skipped a beat at that; she didn't want to cause him trouble. He was already such a troubled person. She wanted to know what else about him – and maybe herself – that had been kept a secret from them.

"Tohru?" his sudden voice came, his intense gaze set forward. She could tell that he was hardly listening to her, that whatever she said, he wouldn't have much of a reaction to. "What's on your mind?" She couldn't tell him. He'd think that she thought he was lying about them knowing each other – which she didn't; it was just hard to digest. Tohru walked over to him, staring down as he kept his eyes from her.

"I'm worried, Kyou-kun." she muttered, him nodding his head. She sighed, tempting herself to cry. Instead though, she wouldn't bother him with her tears. She walked from the room and went into her own. She picked up the cordless phone next to her bed, beginning to dial her house number. As she did so, her thoughts swirled around in her mind. _'I can't talk to Kyou-kun about this. He'll get mad. He's as scared as me… I just know that something's going to happen. This isn't turning out right!'_ She sighed, dialing the last three numbers. _'Just a week ago he was a cat, and now-"_ She stopped herself short, remembering the things that her mother knew. The phone rang once, and she quickly hung it up with both hands, pulling them to her eyes. _'There's no one to go to!'_ she thought, crying. _'No one knows about Kyou-kun, and if they find out, they'll… they'll take me away. Kyou-kun will be alone! All… alone.'_

­_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

"_Hello, Shigure." A woman smiled, Tohru looking from her child-like perspective up at the woman that looked like her mother. "We've come for Kyou." Tohru turned back to the man, smiling with tears in her eyes._

"_But Kyouko-san, you've already decided that you don't want to baby sit him. You quit." The woman shook her head, smiling._

"_I did quit, and I thought that I no longer wanted anything to do with him, but that's no longer true. Tohru and I love Kyou with all our hearts and I've decided to take the job on once more." The man frowned, shaking his head._

"_You were his last chance, Kyouko-san, and you've failed him. He's gone through ten people already, and Akito has had enough. No one wants him, so he'll stay here."_

"_That's not right!" she protested, stepping forward and pushing Tohru to the side. "I made a mistake! Kyou has no one except for us!"_

"_He has you no longer," he replied in a cool tone._

"_He'll be miserable! It's not right! The entire family hates him. He deserves a chance at happiness!"_

"_A boy like him doesn't deserve to live," he replied, his voice equally cool and detached, adding more venom to the words. Tohru's eyes began to well with tears._

"_How can you say that? He's done nothing-"_

"_He killed his own mother!"_

"_That was no homicide!" she protested, her voice cracking at the volume. People were beginning to stop and stare and Tohru hugged to her mother. "He's an innocent child! You're putting her suicide on him just because you hate him!"_

"_That's not it!"_

"_I don't care! I'm going to get him." She pushed passed the man and stomped quickly through the large hallway, slamming open doors in search for the boy. Tohru followed quickly with her. "Tohru, you go to the other side of the house. We're finding Kyou. If you do, just leave as quickly as you can. Run!" Tohru obeyed, running through the hall passed people trying to catch her. She heard her mother protesting a group of men trying to restrain her, but the girl couldn't give up._

'_Kyou-kun is all alone,' she thought, slamming doors open and finding empty rooms._

"_There she is!" Someone yelled, running after her. She panicked, running into a random room and shutting the door behind her. The room was pitch black, and very cold._

"_Who's there?" ordered a gruff voice, and she kept silent and whimpered. "I said who's there?" the voice ordered again, their footsteps coming toward her. She heard a slap in the room followed by the noise of something being thrown into what she suspected to be the wall. The person came toward her and she dodged their hands, running to the left and tripping on something soft. "Get out of here!" the enraged voice yelled in the pitch blackness. Tohru ran her hands along the floor, panting in fear. They ran into a soft pile on the floor, a sticky substance rubbing onto her hands. She smelled blood. Her eyes widened in tears, her hands rubbing over the person's back._

"_Are you okay?" she asked instinctively, finding the sides of their face. She leaned closer, trying to see if their eyes were open._

"_Who are you?" the person yelled, punching a wall and stumbling into the darkness. Tohru couldn't see their eyes, and she rested her ear on their chest, rising and falling slowly._

_The person swung the door open, the light from the hall intruding on the darkness of the room. The light that escaped the door frame barely reached herself and the person she was with, and when her eyes fell onto his body, she screamed. "Kyou-kun!" She began sobbing, unable to take her eyes off of his bloody and bruised body. His face was of shades of purple, scratches running everywhere from a beating. His arm looked broken, and he was bleeding profusely from his side._

_A pair of hands pulled her away, but her hands clung to her friend's shirt. He was unconscious. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders as she sobbed into his bloody head. The person lifted her from the ground with her arms weakly holding him to her. "Kyou-kun! Kyou-kun! Please wake up, Kyou-kun!" His blood, lightly smeared on small parts of a wall and the floor where he landed, was making her sick. "Kyou-kun!" His eyes flittered open as the person began separating the two._

"_T-Tohru?" he asked, one eye swollen shut from the beating. He was about to say something more, but the person holding Tohru succeeded in tearing them apart, and held him by the shirt in one hand, throwing him into the wall and allowing him to plop to the ground._

"_KYOOOOOOU!!" she screamed, reaching for him, though he did not get up. The person transferred her into another set of arms, and she fought with all her might to get free._

"_Oh my god! Kyou!!" her mother screamed, and Tohru looked back, teary eyed to the woman._

'_That's right, mom will save him!' she thought, watching her mother fight helplessly against the two people restraining her. 'Mom will save him… mom will save him…' she repeated it in her mind, but it never helped; her mother continued fighting but could not escape the men's arms. "Mom, save him!" she screamed. One of the men punched Kyouko in the stomach and she doubled over, her short fiery hair covering her tearful eyes._

"_Take them away. Have their memories erased." A voice commanded, and Tohru felt herself being carried away as she watched Kyou bleed on the ground._

"_Kyou-kun! No! Let me go, please!! Please, Kyou-kun, wake up!"_

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

"Kyou-kun! Wake up! Wake up, Kyou-kun, don't die!!" she screamed in the arms of the boy in her dream, his eyes wide with worry.

"Tohru, it's just a dream!" She was shaking in his arms, crying and screaming at the top of her lungs. He knew what she was dreaming, he remembered those few moments when he was awake. His tears fell onto her cheeks as he pleaded with her, shaking her shoulders. "I'm right here, Tohru! Don't worry, I'm alive!" He pulled her closer, into a tight embrace as he whispered into her ear. "Tohru, I'm right here. Tohru, wake up! Wake up!"

She screamed into his ear and he flinched, though kept his hold tight in her. She slackened in his hold for a moment, and her arms slowly rose around his neck. "Kyou-kun… oh, Kyou-kun… Kyou-kun…" she muttered, hugging him tightly as she still cried. "Such a bad dream," she said through tears, digging her face into his shoulder. He sighed, crying as well, putting his face into her hair.

"Not a dream, Tohru." he said, and she shook in his arms.

"But you died," she whimpered, pulling away and looking into his sad eyes. She shivered at the look he was giving her.

"Almost," he muttered, wiping the tears from her cheeks. She felt herself breaking even more under the truth as she tried to keep on a strong front, wiping away his tears as well.

"I'm so sorry," she said, shaking her head, as if doing so would take away the pain. Her head swam in confusion, and fresh tears fell from her eyes. She felt as if her head was filled to the rim with never-ending tears, and her eyes could only let out a small amount. "I'm so sorry, Kyou-kun! I… I didn't-"

"Don't do this to yourself," he ordered, pulling her close and rubbing her back, one hand running through her hair. "It's not your fault; you were tricked. Your mother took a job babysitting me, and when she didn't quit the job like expected, Akito lied to her. We were ripped apart by her."

"You were so hurt," she muttered, crying into his chest. She didn't need to be comforted; he did. They cried together for the longest time before Tohru pulled herself away, looking into his eyes.

"Kyou-kun, how often did it happen?" she asked, meeting his puzzled face.

"The beatings?" She nodded her head, gulping. "Before I met you, it was random. When you and Kyouko came into my life, less, and when you left, more." Tohru frowned, sighing against more tears.

"We've always loved you, Kyou-kun. We wanted you to come back."

"I wanted to go back. I was locked in a small room, no windows or light. The door was locked from the outside." He looked at her, holding her face in his hands. "None of this is your fault, and it's certainly not your mothers. You know that."

"But, you lived with us for two years. It could have stayed like that if-"

"If nothing!"

"But your mother committed suicide and Hatori told us that you did that! He said that you talked about killing us, too!" She shook her head, looking away. He dropped his hands. "I was so afraid of you, and for nothing. If Haru hadn't said anything, I wonder if I'd ever forget that fear." She wiped more tears from her eyes. "I can't believe I loved you so much and threw it away just because of something I heard. I'm so sorry, Kyou-kun."

He shook his head, smiling slightly. "It's been my life story, Tohru. It stopped hurting." She shook her head with wide eyes.

"You're a liar." she muttered, holding his hands in hers. "Don't try to make me feel better, Kyou-kun. You want to cry as much as I do." His expression broke at that, and she pulled him into her arms this time. She had to be strong, just this once, for him. When he calmed down, she began to speak again, holding him closely to her. "They can say and do all they want, but I won't let you go back there."

"No," he muttered, her arms loosening around him. She looked down at him, her eyes worried. He pulled away from her and sat up straight, looking down into her eyes sadly. "You're not going through this again. Now that I've remembered, I'm not letting you get hurt. I'm leaving tonight. I'm sorry for bringing it back, Tohru."

"No! Kyou-kun!" He stood and walked from her room, and at first she couldn't move. Her legs were stuck to the bed. "Kyou-kun, don't leave me!" She found her strength and stood up, the rain from the long storm coming back and pounding outside. She ran through the hall and caught him as he walked out the door. She flew toward him, catching up just as she tripped and clung to his back just outside of the door. "Don't leave me, please!"

He turned around, holding her in place as he stared into her teary eyes. "I don't care about what pain I'll go through! As long as you're here with me I can endure! I can do anything as long as you're here with me, Kyou-kun! I d-" She was cut off by his lips on hers, urgent and needing. Her eyes widened and closed shut as her heart sped up, his hand holding her tightly to him by her waist, other tangled into her wet hair. She clung to him, his urgency only making her more worried.

'_A farewell kiss,'_ she thought hopelessly, just as he pulled away from her. Tears fell down her cheeks and he smiled ruefully at her, saying something that her sorrow and the thunder blocked out. She merely stared incoherently at his moving lips. She fell to the ground in fear and sorrow, her hair hanging over her face as she stared at him. He wrapped his fingers around the beads on his wrist, quickly pulling them off, dropping them to the ground.

She stared in horror as he transformed, a horrible odor filling the air that made her gag. She barely got a glimpse of a brown and boney grotesque creature before he ran into the forest. She held her head to the side and threw up, falling backwards in the mud as she cried herself to sleep. She didn't have the strength anymore to move.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

;/ I lost my keys, which hold my jump drive. Haha! Aren't I a smart one?


	11. Hopelessness Abound

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

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Chapter 10:

Hopelessness Abound

Tohru awoke with her head pounding, her entire body stiff. She had no idea as to where she was, why she was there, or what had proceeded the night before. She held her head as she slowly sat up, mud coating her back and arms. It seemed that she had fallen asleep outside while it was raining. Her neck refused any movement, telling her the tale of a still night in a horrid, dreamless land. She wondered silently what had caused such a sleep, looking around. It was early in the morning; and by the way she felt, she'd fallen asleep too suddenly and early before. It seemed to be merely four in the morning by the looks of the sky.

'_Why am I here?'_ she asked herself, slowly standing and looking over her stiff body. She was a complete disaster. Her eyes and throat felt dry, and dread filled her chest for some unknown reason, giving her the powerful urge to cry and plunge back into the abyss of dreamless sleep. She grabbed her chest, whimpering at the tears that threatened to spill out. Suddenly, the words _'I'm all alone!'_ flew through her head, making her collapse onto the ground in tears.

'_But I'm not alone!'_ she argued, trying to regain control of herself. _'I have Kyou-kun with me!'_

'_Not anymore…'_ her inner-most thoughts replied, breaking into mental tears.

'_He is!!'_ she insisted, clutching her fists together and digging them into the ground.

'_Don't you remember?'_ the voice asked, the voice that sounded so much like her own, though spoke with such bluntness, such pessimism that she denied that it was herself. _'Don't you remember him from long ago?'_

'_No…'_

'_You do.'_

'_No… No, I don't! I only recently met him!'_

'_Then why do you love him so?'_

'_Because he's my friend,'_

'_He's been your friend for so long, hasn't he?'_ the voice asked with genuine care and sympathy.

'_Yes… I… I mean no! He hasn't!'_

'_Then why do you care?'_

'_He's my friend!'_

'_A friend of the past… Open your eyes! Open your eyes and remember!'_

"NOOOO!!" she yelled, clutching her head. She did remember; she remembered it all so vividly. She denied it though. She didn't want to remember that feeling of hopelessness when he left her, even though her mother was with her. She wasn't here now, it was just Tohru. "Kyou-kun…" He left her again. She didn't want to remember that scene of a defenseless boy being beaten. She didn't want to remember the time when Hatori told herself and her mother that Kyou was plotting their deaths. She didn't want to remember waking up the next day, only later seeing his face as Akito pulled him from the house.

'_We betrayed him.'_

She didn't want to remember that empty feeling that she felt after her memories were erased. He'd taken up so many of her memories and thoughts, that even though she forgot about him, he'd left a gaping hole within her mind and heart. Without knowing why that hole was there, life was almost as miserable as it was when she heard Hatori's lies.

She looked around in the bright sunrise. As the sun peaked over the trees, the shadows retreated and revealed something in the mud.

'_He was only just beginning to fill it again.'_ she thought, crawling over to pick up the bracelet that he always wore, its' purpose unknown. She felt that it was all that was left of the boy. She picked it up and held it in her hands, smiling ruefully. As she pulled it onto her wrist her final missing memory came back with wide eyes and gaping lips.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

_Kyou was to be gone for the day, with the Sohma family. The children had never taken interest in him before, but for some reason, today they wanted to play. They had shunned Tohru though, and she didn't mind. She remembered telling him "Go ahead! I really don't want to go. I want to help mom around the house!"_

_It was his birthday._

"_I don't want to." mumbled the boy, crossing his arms and turning his face away from her. "I don't like them and they don't like me. I have you and Kyouko now and that's all I need!" Her mother looked down at him and smiled, rubbing his head._

"_You're going, Jari, and that's that. They're waiting for you; you can't let them down, right?" He frowned and sunk into himself. "Now, go on. Akito-san and Hatori-san are waiting for you outside. Have fun!" She bent down and kissed him on the forehead, wrapping him in a tight hug. Kyouko left the room._

"_I'm sorry you don't want to go, Kyou-kun, but I'm sure you'll have fun. Yuki-san, Haru-san, and Kagura-san are very nice."_

"_I hate them the most!" he yelled, but Tohru only smiled._

"_Have fun, Kyou-kun. When you come back, we'll play together as much as you want." She hugged him and quickly let go, watching Hatori as he threw the door open with cold eyes. "H-hello, Ha-Hatori-san!" Tohru stammered, pulling her hands behind her back and smiling lightly. She turned to Kyou, her smile widening. "Goodbye, Kyou-kun!" He rolled his eyes at her, and walked over, ignoring the man as he wrapped her into a tight hug, smiling with an annoyed twitch to his lips._

"_I told you," he whispered, tightening his hold on her before he let go. "Don't be afraid of them." With that, he left the house with Hatori. Tohru watched them through the opened door, smiling. She quickly shut the door and ran into the kitchen with her mother, smiling as she clung to the woman._

"_I can't believe he didn't notice!!" she giggled, looking into the dimly lit oven where a chocolate cake was being cooked. "When will it get done?" she asked, smiling._

"_Just a few minutes," Kyouko replied, hugging the girl. "I'm so happy that Jari will be staying with us." Tohru smiled, detaching herself from her mother before she went to get icing out of a drawer._

"_I am, too, mom! This way we can all be together forever!" She turned to her mom, meeting her smiling eyes that almost held a small hint of sadness in them. "What's wrong?" she asked, but her mother only smiled more._

"_Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about my little girl's wedding day." With that, a deep blush met Tohru's face._

"_Wh-what do you mean?" she asked, laughing lightly. Tohru had only just begun liking Kyou as more than a friend; and her mother caught on quickly. She thanked who ever it was that looked upon them that those children were innocent as they came. The woman walked over to her daughter, ruffling the girl's hair with a smile. She was only thirteen, Kyou reaching that age today._

"_You'd better get some girl friends so you can have a maid of honor!" she joked, making Tohru blush even more._

"_Wha-" she was cut off by the timer on the oven, her hands balled into little fists from nervousness._

"_Ah, never mind." Kyouko said, walking over to the oven to get out the chocolate cake. "What kind of icing should we put on it?"_

"_Uh… I…" Her mother smiled, taking the white icing from her hands._

"_We'll just use this then we can write in red and draw him a little orange kitty underneath the words, okay?"_

"_Alright!" said the girl, running over to watch her mother frost the cake. "Can I do it? And draw the kitty, too?" she asked, reaching for the icing and knife when her mother nodded her head and stepped back._

"_Why don't you just draw a __**monster**__?" a sarcastic voice asked from the kitchen doorway, and the two turned to meet the face of a smirking Akito._

"_What?" her mother demanded, rage evident in her eyes. She balled her fists and stood more firmly, clenching her teeth as she spoke. Tohru's mother never liked Akito, or the way she talked about her Jari. "I don't care what you have to say, get out!" she demanded, and Tohru hid behind her in fear._

"_If I go, the monster goes!" Akito said, crossing her arms. "After all, there's no way you can love it. It's disgusting."_

"_He's no monster, Akito. You have no right to talk about him in such a matter."_

"_Oh, really? Come this way, I have it with me right now."_

"_What!?" she demanded again, running forward with her daughter at her heels as they chased after the head of the Sohma house. They stopped as soon as they saw an emotionless Hatori standing in the yard, holding an equally emotionless Kyou in front of him._

"_Kyou-kun!" Tohru yelled, running forward, only to have her pulled back by the hand of her mother._

"_Tohru!" Kyou also tried to release himself from his human bindings, punching and kicking at the man that held him in place with no faltering movements. "Let me go!" he demanded, but he was ignored. Tohru looked at him with fearful eyes while her mother watched with pity. Tohru looked into her mother's eyes, looking back to Akito as the woman began to speak._

"_You'll see how much you __**really**__ know about this boy." She smirked, turning to Hatori. "Remove the Juzu Beads!" she demanded, and without a second's contemplation, Hatori grabbed Kyou's wrist, ripping the bracelet from it._

"_NO!" Kyou yelled, his voice turning gruffer as a transformation took place. Tohru jumped and screamed as she hugged tightly to her mother. Kyouko covered her daughters eyes to serve as visual protection, but the girl yanked her hands away, tears filling her eyes as she took in the sight of the creature. Her mother shook slightly in paralyzed fear, looking at the creature as it stared into Tohru's wide eyes. "Tohru…" it murmured, stepping forward, but thinking better of it and turning away, running into the forest._

_Tohru looked in desperation at Akito and Hatori, who had both covered their noses at the stench as her stomach bubbled. Her mother's hands shook as they held loosely to her, and, fear overpowering her, she broke from the woman, running off of the deck to chase after the boy. She heard her mother vomit loudly as she broke through the trees of the forest._

_-x-x-x-x-x-x-_

Tohru gasped, pulling tightly on the bracelet with shaking hands. The beads went flying, her eyes shedding small tears as she lifted her head to the sky, sobbing. The tears fell down her checks as she blindly stared at the bright sky, shaking as new sobs poured from her. The beads hit the ground and slowly rolled in different directions, stopping as she continued crying, now into her palms.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Kyouko smiled lightly as she turned on the car's ignition, pulling out of her driveway for work. She drove the car down the familiar, busy streets as she idly thought of her daughter and the cat that was with her.

'_I wonder why that cat hasn't been found yet,'_ she thought, glancing at the time on instinct. _'He's probably just a stray, but I wonder what Tohru'll do when he doesn't get a home. She'll be distraught and want to keep it... She'll be disappointed.'_ She smirked slightly, going over the times that her daughter had done things like this; mindlessly help people that either don't want it or are helpless. _'Such an angel,'_ she thought, turning the last corner before her workplace showed up.

Without warning, her head started pounding half way through the turn. She grabbed it with one hand, though the pain got worse. This made her yank her only hand on the steering wheel to the left, turning sharply into the opposing lane. She moaned in pain and clutched her head with both of her hands, pulling it down and hitting it on the steering wheel. The horn beeped loudly, blocked out by the sea of memories that flowed through her mind. Cars skidded to a stop, though one kept coming, heading right toward her at full speed.

She didn't notice the chaos around her as she cried, whimpering one name before she was hit. "Jari…"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Kyou-kun… you… I…" She couldn't speak the words that were running so freely into her mind now. _'You and I were so young… but still only four years ago. I chased you… chased you into the forest without a thought in mind. I knew you had to come back, or else everything would be different.'_ She lifted her head, drying her eyes with her wrist as she slowly picked up each of the beads. _'I didn't know where to find you… and I threw up so often looking. I kept yelling, yelling for you to come out and show me. I didn't care what you looked like; I just wanted to see you, in any form, just to know that maybe we were still together.'_

She walked into the house, into her room, looking at a small crystal cup on her dresser that the sun barely touched, sending rainbows a short distance in the room. As she reached it, a rainbow hit her chest, and she grabbed her aching heart that yearned to know that the boy was still with her. She dropped the Juzu beads into the cup, barely filling it as the rainbows dissolved, forming few smaller ones where light poked through. She watched it as the sun passed over it.

'_I finally found you crying in my clearing; the one that you and I went to whenever we wanted to play alone, or whenever we wanted to tease mom. It was a blur, but I still remember an image of you crying as a younger boy overlap the one of the creature before me. Your tears were the same, your posture was the same, and, though different colors, your eyes still held a hopeless sadness in them when you looked up at me. I knew that sadness; it was the one you had whenever you were secluded, or whenever memories of your past came up. I was thinking even less then, and, crying, ran up and hugged you._

'_You moved so quickly, I don't know what happened. I ranted on about wanting to be with you, about how I loved you no matter which "Kyou-kun" you were being. Finally, you accepted my truthful words and from the mental strain, you turned into a cat and I carried you home. Akito and Hatori were gone, and when I got home, mom told you to go into another room while she told me that Hatori revealed your plot to kill us._

'_We were just scared and stupid.'_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I'm terribly sorry about the lack of updates. I suppose… I've been going through a bit of my own story, you could say. From sheer neglect to rape it's all hit me fairly recently, in one way or another, so I haven't felt up to writing at all. (For the record, no I haven't been raped but a childhood friend was, so it still hurt.) Luckily, I have someone to help me get through it, and as silly as it sounds, it's my boyfriend of about eight and a half months, and I don't know how he deals with my emotional breakdowns without dumping me. I also have great friends on a forum-based website called Midorea that I mod at, so, slowly, I've begun to heal.

Bad things are still happening, but they'll never stop, and neither will I. I admit, it hurt to write like this, but I still enjoy writing to some extent, so while I cannot promise quick (or even good) updates, I WILL keep them coming. I recently purchased the entire Fruits Basket series, and I've taken an interest in short stories again, so hopefully that will serve as some inspiration. Expect an update later today or tomorrow.


	12. Strings of Fate

**My Monster**

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

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Chapter 11:

Strings of Fate

It all felt like an extremely bad dream; something she wouldn't have believed if it didn't happen to her first hand. Holding the phone to her ear with a quivering hand, eyes wide, she could barely think as she asked, "Wha-What did you just say?" The person on the other line only sighed, annoyed.

"Listen, Tohru, for the third time. Kyouko's in the hospital. She got into a wreck on the way to work." The voice on the other line was that of her aunt, annoyed and sharp. The woman tried once more to give Tohru the details of the accident but she simply wasn't listening. The girl, her voice shaking, cut the woman off mid-sentence.

"Can I see her? Is she okay?" Her aunt growled through her teeth, but didn't respond. "Hello? Can I see mom? Can I?!"

"Do you have money?" The question threw Tohru off guard and she tried processing it as her aunt continued. "Do you have a car? Do you even have a license?" The woman paused for a moment, finally replying with a short laugh. "We're not picking you up, so don't even try that."

Tohru sighed, dejected. She spoke in a broken, barely noticeable voice. "I understand," Tohru couldn't do anything other than comply, so, in silence, she stood there, her forehead against the wall. There was silence on the other end as well, and then, shuffling.

"Hello, Tohru? This is grandpa."

Her head shot up, a small smile on her face. She hadn't talked to the man in quite a while, so it was good that she at least knew he was doing okay. "Oh, hi grandpa. How are you?"

"I'm fine, dear. Just fine," He paused, contemplation evident in his silence. Just as Tohru was about to ask what was wrong, he spoke. "Listen, Tohru. Now, you know your mother better than any of us, so does she know anyone named Jari? We thought she might have suffered some trauma to the head, but apparently she's perfectly fine, aside from some cuts and bruises and her fractured ribs. They say she got lucky,"

Tohru could only stand there, shocked. Her mouth hung open, her eyes wide. She hadn't even listened to the description of Kyouko's injuries after the mention of the supposed Jari. Could this really be the same "Jari" that she had affectionately called Kyou so many years ago? Finally, Tohru snapped back into reality, responding to the question. "He's a… friend of ours. Why? What did she say?" the girl hurriedly asked, wondering if her mother had truly remembered Kyou all this time.

"Well, that's the odd part. Ever since they put her in the ambulance, she'd been muttering things about this Jari fellow. Once she became more stable, she still wouldn't stop saying things like: "I remember." She also said: "Tohru, please rescue Jari." We asked if she wanted to be put on the telephone with you, but she refused. She seems very confused, Tohru, but she's set on not talking to you until you do what she asks. Tohru, please tell me, who is Jari, and what trouble is he in? Do we need to come help you, or pick you up? I can't have you in any danger."

"No, no grandpa, I'm fine. Jari is a friend of ours," she muttered, pulling her thumb to her lip, wondering why her mother was so bent on getting her to save Kyou. "The trouble he's in? Well…" She was never a good liar, but she had to give it a shot. Getting the police involved would only make things worse. "It's nothing I can't handle. We lost touch with… Jari a long time ago, but we recently found him on our trip up here. He seems upset about something, so she probably just wants to make him happy." She closed her eyes, sighing. _'What a terrible lie!'_ she thought, pursing her lips. _'He'll never believe that.'_

The man faltered, testing the girl. "You're not serious…?"

"Yes, grandpa. Jari had a very tough childhood," She found it hard to keep herself from blurting the entire story to her kind, understanding grandfather. "Mom and I were his peace, I guess. We took care of him, and suddenly we couldn't talk anymore. He's just really hurt by all this. He ran away, and I guess I should go looking for him."

"Ran away from home? Why not call the police?" the man asked, astonished.

"It's just better like this. That's what mom said." She bit her lip. _'Stupid, stupid! Why am I lying like this?'_

The man sighed. "Well, Kyouko was never far from strong-willed. Tohru, always feel free to call us if you need help. You know the number, right?"

"Yes," she muttered with her eyes downcast.

"Good," he sighed, sounding relieved. "Okay, well I should let you go; the doctors need to talk to me. Do you want me to call you with any updates on your mother?"

The girl smiled slightly, knowing she probably wouldn't be home to answer the phone anyway. "Yes, please, grandpa."

"Okay then. I love you, dear, and your mother does too. Bye now."

"Thank you, grandpa. I love you too, and tell mom I said that. Bye."

Tohru hung the phone up loudly, leaning her back against the wall and slipping to the floor with her hands covering her eyes. _'I promise, grandpa. I'll tell you the truth after I save Kyou.'_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The day was sunny, but Tohru payed that no mind as she rummaged through her bedroom closet for a backpack of some sort to use. She threw out age old articles of clothing, papers, and toys, and so on until she finally found a decently stable hiking backpack that she would put essentials into for her search for Kyou. She didn't know where the Sohma house was, so she packed things you'd expect for a three-day trip even though she intended to leave the next morning for him and return that night; after all, it was already getting late in the afternoon and it was dangerous to be alone in the forest at night. She also managed to bring a watch, flashlight, and water bottles… the essentials, and then some. Being overly cautious, you could never expect her to pack the minimal. She even thought to get some of Kyou's clothes.

Hours later, smiling at the small accomplishment, she stood up and stretched, making her back crack at the motion. "Oh…" she muttered, holding her back as she glanced at the watch placed neatly on top of her clothes, on top of the bag. It was seven thirty, and she hadn't even cooked dinner. "Kyou-kun… I hope you're safe," she quietly said, staring out of the opened window into the pastel sky. She continued staring into the lake, mesmerized by the sky that reflected so peacefully in the water. For just a moment, she could forget the stress of losing Kyou for a second time, forget that she was left alone, and forget the situation with her mother in the hospital. She smiled, inhaling the scent of the water as a breeze pushed it through the window.

"Everything will turn out fine," she nearly whispered, turning away from the window. "I'm sure of it." The girl began walking from her room, until she heard a small noise from outside. She gasped, twisting around as she stared, wide-eyed at the spot that the noise was coming from. "W-Who's there?" she asked, her voice wavering. No response; nothing. She attentively approached the window, reaching out a wavering hand to grab onto the window sill.

Peering over the old painted wood, she could only hold her breath as fear constricted her. "Who's there? Come out," She tried to speak in a commanding voice, but only small pleas came from her lips. Closing her eyes, she gulped, but when she opened them, she could only see a small blur run toward the side of the house, leaving her screaming, slamming the window shut. She held her chest as she fell to the ground, controlling the noises she made.

'_It's okay,'_ she told herself, a determined look on her face. _'It's just an animal… maybe a stray.'_ At that, the girl whimpered, dropping her head into her knees. _'Just a stray,'_ she thought, images of the cat-like Kyou coming to mind. She quickly tried to find something to distract her from the negative thoughts, pulling out some string and Kyou's Juzu beads to fix the bracelet that she had broken.

She worked halfway through it, but never realized why it was so hard to get the string through the beads. She was crying. Her cries were silent and soft, almost comforting even. She finally welcomed them submissively, knowing that they'd come either way. There was simply no getting around it: She missed Kyou and she felt hopeless without him with her, holding her as she cried like he did the night of the thunder storm.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The beeping machines were driving Kyouko mad as she tried distracting herself from the sticky situation that she was in. She rubbed her temples, trying to calm the stirred memories of a young Kyou, afraid, of a young Kyou, crying, of a young Kyou, laughing, of a young Kyou, smiling… of a young Kyou, with her young daughter. _'How could I let myself forget?'_ she asked the memories, the slideshows of the many faces of the boy that she knew she still loved. _'After so much, after telling him I'd always be there… How could I let him be taken away?'_ She remembered running through the Sohma estate, searching for the boy, soon after finding him in the shaking hands of Akito as she held the battered boy, as she glared at Tohru. It was then, she knew, that she lost her will to fight for him. Seeing him, almost dead, seeing her daughter gaze on in fear, she knew that she had no way of saving the boy.

She just never assumed that Tohru could, and that may have possibly been her greatest mistake.

"Kyouko?" her father's voice broke through the tattered memories, his wrinkled face worried. "Why won't you talk to Tohru? You know how sensitive the girl is,"

Kyouko sighed, giving him a half-smirk. "You obviously don't know Tohru then."

After a very long pause, he replied. "I sure hope you're right then," he muttered, leaving it evident that he had more to say. He gave his daughter another glance before leaving the room and shutting the door, allowing her to slip back into her thoughts.

'_For hers and Kyou's sake… I hope so too.'_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru jumped in her hunched position, glancing around the room frantically as she realized that she'd fallen asleep next to the closed window. The girl hurried to her knees, turning to the window and peeking out into the lake, the forest, the bright sky. _'How late is it?'_ she asked herself, running to the watch on her backpack that read: **7:42**. With a sigh of relief, the girl sat back on her rear and stretched properly, standing to start her day. She was getting a later start than she had hoped, but at least she got enough sleep.

The girl felt something hard in her hands, and glanced to find Kyou's half-put together bracelet. With a bittersweet smile, she decided against automatically getting ready. Instead, she decided to work on fixing the bracelet. _'After all,'_ she thought, sadness sweeping over her gaze. _'I'll always have this, no matter where he goes.'_

After getting ready for the long day, Tohru shut and locked the house door and placed the key into one of the backpack pockets, the newly restored bracelet dangling on her small wrist. Her smile wavered as she looked into the seemingly endless forest, the abyss of trees. _'Kyou could be anywhere in there…'_ she thought half-heartedly, sauntering into the trees anyway.

As soon as she emerged into the darker parts of the forest however, the girl began to feel afraid, jumping at every snap of a twig. She was already becoming lost, and being a bit disoriented by fear, she had trouble controlling the screams that tried to bellow from her chest. "Maybe… I should start at our clearing," she spoke, her own voice sounding alien in the noises of the forest. As a second thought, she noticed how much better "our" clearing sounded better than "my" clearing, and smiled at the thought. That single change of a word almost made Kyou feel closer already.

It was odd, really, experiencing these wonderful memories for the first time in years. It was like being a child again, being told a fairy tale of a girl that happened to be named Tohru and a boy that happened to be named Kyou; it felt like watching a movie, a tear-jerker, of the buds of young love being burned before they could bloom; it was like experiencing an entirely new life.

Lost in her thoughts, the girl unknowingly did stumble upon the familiar clearing. The tree that seemed like it had fallen years ago was still there, but there was no Kyou. She sighed. She never really did expect it to be that easy to find him, but she did have to think that it would've been nice. "Let's face it," she mumbled, closing her eyes as she circled the tree stump that had evaded half of her memories for so long. It still seemed the same, surprisingly. Memories overshadowed reality as she saw a young Kyou crying as a child, only to be overlapped with the image of Kyou in his other form, maintaining the same position, the same emotion, the same distrust.

Her lips quivered as she tried reaching out to the boy, merely meeting flat air as she sat on her knees, her eyes glassy. _'We treated him so badly…'_ she dwelled, covering her face and turning from the haunting images, only to be met with more. She was so tired of crying; she didn't – no – she couldn't be weak. Tohru dried her eyes for possibly the hundredth time since he left, standing up with a sigh. She still felt them; the heavy tears still held behind her strong eyes. She wondered briefly if running from all of these tears helped her at all, but she did know that they didn't help in her search; they wouldn't bring Kyou back. No matter what she wanted, no matter what she did, he wouldn't come back. She'd have to chase him, and she very well would. There was no way that she was giving Kyou up so easily this time.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Tohru had been walking for hours, and while she felt she was getting close, she still didn't know where the Sohma residence was. The girl sat down in the nearest clearing she could find, getting out her lunch for the break. Her eyes wandered around the many trees, looking this way and that at any angle she could. She was reconsidering her decision on not asking Yuki Sohma for any help, but the girl wasn't stupid. She knew that if she got the family involved, even one of the people, then it would make it that much harder to find Kyou. She knew from experience that Kyou was the type to run more hastily from a group of people rather than one single person.

She squeezed her water bottle in a small fit of frustration, surprising herself at the act. She stared at her hand, the cold water stringing its way down and onto her jeans. Tohru closed her eyes, exhaling as she thought of what to do. It was now one and she had an entire day ahead of her, and then some.

Suddenly Tohru felt something brush against her hand and she jumped, spilling her water all over herself and the person that surprised her with a yelp. The girl opened her eyes as her heart pounded, biting her lip. Blinking a few times, Tohru tilted her head. "A… cat?" she asked herself, staring at the stripped animal in awe. "Fat cat," she added, reaching her hand out to the creature, but deciding against petting it when it glared menacingly at her.

Suddenly, realization struck and Tohru could only stare. She backed against the tree, eyes wide. _'A Sohma,'_ she thought, feeling her breathing slow. _'I was __**just**__ thinking that I shouldn't talk to any of them! Shoot, what should I do?'_ Tohru tried putting on an airy smile, trying to shoo the tiger away. "Go on, go on!" The tiger only stared, and she sighed. "Do you want food? Here, I have some!" Tohru got a sandwich out of the bag, laying it in front of the tiger, but the animal still only stared. Tohru blushed, packing up her bag and standing up. "Well, I have to go now. You can have that, so bye-bye!"

The girl scurried away, but she couldn't help but notice that something was following her. Turning around to face the extra pitter-patter of footsteps, she sighed. "No, you can't follow me. Go on… eh, Neko-san." The tiger mewed with the sandwich in its mouth, melting the girl's heart. "Aw! Er, no! You can't follow me," It didn't seem to get through. The tiger continued following her, rubbing against her leg. Sighing, Tohru turned around and faced it once more. "Okay, what is it?" The tiger's ears perked up, and it dropped the sandwich, tugging on Tohru's sock in the opposite direction.

'_Should I go…?'_ she pondered, looking down at the tiger in contemplation. She sighed when it mewed again, deciding to follow it. _'What's the worse that could happen?'_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It's only A WEEK LATE. Apparently I've taken on the job of tutoring my sister, and almost continuously writing letters to her school and the board about her failing grades. I honestly didn't think I'd have to write persuasive letters outside of class for another ten years.

WELL BELIEVE IT. D:

Meh, anyway, here's the update. Sorry for the choppiness and everything; I had trouble conveying everything I wanted to here. This time I'll give myself a bit of leeway; expect another one within one-two weeks. I'm on spring break right now, but that just means intensive tutoring. Until then, bye bye.

Oh! By the way, thank you for the reviews and support. :] I'm glad to see that some of my readers still have faith in the story. And yeah, that's Kisa. I love her!


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